Northern Division North One East: Cleckheaton 29 - 24 Morley

CLECKHEATON put in a sterling effort to secure a home victory against one of the division's strongest sides.

The hosts gave third-placed neighbours Morley a taste of defeat for the first time since Cleck last played them in early December.

The Spen Valley men got off to a solid start and when Morley were penalised at a scrum inside their 22, Dale Breakwell slotted over a simple penalty goal to open the scoring.

He added a second 15 minutes for offside to make the score 6-0 and Cleck certainly had their kicking boots on.

A Breakwell punt towards the left corner caught the Morley defence napping, whilst Danny Booth was the quickest to react and go in for his 13th try of the season.

The conversion was good and Cleckheaton led 13-0 after 25 minutes.

Morley then conceded three quick penalties at scrums and on the last occasion the ball was tapped and quickly moved left where a scoring pass to Mikey Hayward was intercepted by Morley winger Karl Bradshaw, who raced 80 metres to the other end of the field for an opportunist try.

The conversion was missed but the visitors had got on the board at 13-5 on 33 minutes.

The final action of the half saw more domination by the Cleck pack and after a switch to the blind side by Jack Bickerdike, Booth crossed near the corner flag.

Breakwell missed the conversion and the referee blew for half time with the score 18-5 in Cleckheaton’s favour.

Morley recommenced with the bit between their teeth and, after several phases close to the host's whitewash, a try was awarded and then goaled by Mark Chester, putting Morley back within six.

It was important that Cleckheaton kept up their momentum after a dominant first half and midway through the second half, they did just that with a spectacular third try.

Breakwell was unsuccessful with the conversion but he was on target with a penalty from 20 metres some five minutes later to extend the lead to 26-12.

A lapse in Cleck’s defensive line on 69 minutes saw Morley cross for their third try, again improved by Chester to make the score 26-19 with just over 10 to go.

But, Breakwell kicked his fourth penalty goal of the game a minute later to calm Cleck’s nerves and made it a two score game again.

This proved very valuable as when Morley went in for their bonus point try, with a couple of minutes to go, it was only a consolation.

The referee called time and Cleckheaton had sealed the points, much to the delight of the sizeable crowd.

Cleck now face a long trip to North Shields to face Percy Park in the final away game of the season.