National League Three North: Firwood Waterloo 22 Cleckheaton 27

CLECKHEATON put in a spirited but workmanlike second-half performance to overcome Waterloo after trailing significantly at the halfway mark.

Cleckheaton scored first when Ronan Evans finished off a sweeping break and converted his own try to make it 7-0.

But for the next 35 minutes, Waterloo dominated possession.

Buoyed by their last-minute win over Morley the previous weekend, they threw the ball wide at every opportunity and put their speedy three-quarter line into action.

Cleckheaton made a lot of handling errors, which furthered Loo's cause, and the home team ran in tries by Mark Rylance, Liam Reeve and Jack Weare, Reeve converting two and also adding a penalty to give them a 22-7 interval lead.

The visitors could not allow Waterloo to score many further points and opted to keep the ball in hand a lot more.

Martin Woodhead went close before Cleck won a line-out ten metres from Waterloo's line, and Ryan Piercy guided the ball over the whitewash.

Shortly after the restart, a chip over from Neil Chivers was collected by Josh Hall, who rounded the last defender for another Cleckheaton try, with Evans converting to put the visitors within three points of the home team.

In a reverse of the first half, Cleckheaton hogged possession and, thanks to a 30-metre rampaging run by skipper Richard Piper, the visitors found themselves with a five-metre scrum.

Piper collected from the No 8 position and barged his way over.

The conversion was missed but Cleckheaton had the lead, and Evans widened the advantage with a penalty goal.

The referee played about six minutes of injury time, which while fair, was incredibly nerve-racking as Loo pressed for one last twist in an entertaining game.

It was to be Cleckheaton's day, however, as they claimed a bonus-point win.