National League Three North: Cleckheaton 13 Huddersfield 62 

CLECKHEATON were always going to be up against it when they hosted unbeaten leaders Huddersfield, but their task was not made any easier by the unavailability of four regulars.

Captain Richard Piper was among those declared unfit, and Luke Pearson was given the captain's armband, which at the tender age of 20, made him among the youngest to do so.

Cleckheaton opened the scoring with a penalty from Ronan Evans before Huddersfield's Tom Owens, who was to prove a handful all afternoon, went in for his team's first try.

It was converted by Chris Bell, who after a missing an early penalty attempt, was successful with all of his next ten efforts.

Huddersfield extended their lead through Joel Hinchliffe's try but Evans added a second penalty for Cleckheaton to bring the score back to 14-6.

The eight-point margin did not last long though as Bell added a penalty goal for the visitors before converting a try from Nick Sharpe.

Ryan Piercy was sent to the sin bin with ten minutes left in the first period, and Huddersfield took advantage when Lewis Workman was able to squeeze in at the corner for his side's fourth and bonus-point try.

Cleckheaton were not done though and battled hard for field position before Evans put James Wilson through a large gap, and the full back and dived under the sticks, Evans adding the extras for a 31-13 deficit at the break.

The second half proved gloomy for Cleckheaton, however, and not only because a layer of fog descended on Moorend, making it difficult to see from one end of the field to the other.

Huddersfield were responsible for all the scoring as Cleckheaton battled hard but could not contain the up-tempo game the visitors were playing.

The visitors added a penalty and another four converted tries in the last 40 minutes, of the game with Brandon Conway getting two and Nick Rhodes and Ben Hoyle getting one each.

Bell converted all of them to bring the final score to a one-sided looking 62-13.

Cleckheaton battled hard throughout and can be proud of the effort they put in against an opposition determined to bounce straight back into National League Two, from which they came last season.

There were some notable hits on the field as the Moorenders tried to keep Huddersfield out, with Brad Marsden and Jack Seddon both causing gasps from the crowd.

Mark Chivers picked up the man of the match award for great consistency with his line-out throwing and working tirelessly throughout.