Bradford Dudley Hill 20 Rochdale Mayfield 12

 A virtuoso performance from scrum half Danny Thomas ensured Hill came away with the spoils in a hard-fought National Conference Division One encounter at Parry Lane.

Hill made a slow start and paid the price when a sharp exchange of passes saw visiting stand-off Eamon Hillman cross under the uprights for a try he converted himself.

When Hill at last made inroads into the Mayfield red zone, a precision cross-field kick from Thomas was fumbled by the defence, leaving wingman Neil Wall to collect and cut inside to power over, despite a late high challenge that went unpunished. Wall tagged on the extra two to put matters level at 6-6.

With less than a minute to go before the break, Thomas produced a deft sleight of hand to slip the ball out of the back door to find stand-off Josh Essex, who cantered to the chalk. Wall once again made sure of a full reward and Hill went into the sheds 12-6 to the good.

The start of the second half was a very scrappy affair, with both sides giving away silly penalties, and when Wall was hauled down after a 50-metre touchline dash the fists flew, earning Mayfield packman Andy Mahoney a spell in the sin bin.

Hill used the extra man to create space on the blind side and a smart offload from second row forward Sean Dickinson found centre Craig Tyman, who squeezed in at the flag.

Rochdale wingman Rob Kershaw was shown a yellow card for a blatant head-high shot by an overworked referee but it was the visitors who narrowly failed to close the gap when second-rower Wayne Jopson put the ball to ground with the line wide open.

Prop Jason Lee trouped off to the bin when he went high and Hill suffered as a result when substitute forward Aidey Gleeson made the whitewash after sustained pressure. Hillman converted, leaving the crowd to ponder a possible repeat of the 16-16 draw earlier in the campaign.

Hill showed their intent to collect the points on offer when Tyman was held up over the line and finally made sure of a worthy win when Thomas hoisted a towering up-and-under to find centre Alex Dickinson in acres of space, who had only to catch the ball and touch down with not a single defender able to lay a hand on him.