Marshall in at the double as Morley survive tough test from strugglers

RELEGATION-THREATENED Cleckheaton gave second-placed Morley a stern test.

The hosts soon went behind to Brad Marshall's try but responded when Ross Hayden sent in Mitch Ashworth at the corner.

Simon Bradshaw put Morley back in front with a penalty before the break.

He missed a penalty at the start of the second half but Chester dropped a goal and Bradshaw converted after Marshall went in for his second try.

Cleckheaton won a lineout and the pack made easy work of sending in Carl Mason for an unconverted try.

A penalty from Bradshaw was followed by a yellow card for Mason and, from a scrum, the ball went to Sean Dadswell, who crossed for Bradshaw to convert.

Cleckheaton were soon back into the Morley 22 and, although Richard Piper was also binned, Hayden intercepted and ran two-thirds of the field for a try in the corner, Iain Gordon again failing to convert.

Morley ended the game with a pushover try in the corner.

Rossendale 41

Beverley 22

BEVERLEY were left disappointed and critical of some over-zealous brandishing of yellow cards which they claim spoilt what they thought would have been a tight and thrilling encounter.

After 30 minutes, the two sides were level with a penalty apiece from Beverley's winger Jamie Gill and home scrum-half James Bramall.

With the significant advantage of the slope to come in the second half Beverley were pleased, but in the space of 10 minutes it all went wrong for them with a burst of four yellow cards for varying infringements.

With depleted numbers and in disarray, they succumbed to four quick tries from winger Alastair Harper, fly-half Tom Albinson, flanker Matt Mckenzie and a penalty try, three of them converted by Bramall.

Turning round at 29-3, it was suddenly a mountain to climb for Beverley and two further home tries early in the second half from winger Nick Fountaine and full-back Roger Dennison plus one conversion took the game beyond them.

Once back to full strength, Beverley regrouped and had Rossendale on the back foot.

Rossendale flanker Thomas Short unluckily became the recipient of the fifth yellow card.

Beverley captain David Worrall touched down from a short penalty and full-back Richard Bussey followed this with a try from inside his own half. Gill added both conversions.

Continuous Beverley pressure brought another try from lock Gavin Gibson.