Rampant Morley rapidly closing in on title success

They produced a rampant first-half display, going 33-7 ahead at the interval after running in five tries.

Morley took the lead after seven minutes with a try by second-row Danny Chamberlain, converted by left winger Simon Bradshaw, and even though Rossendale equalised, from then on it was all Morley.

Captain and No 8 Craig Field scored in the 19th minute and further tries by Bradshaw, Mark Chester and prop Paul Gabriel, plus three conversions by Bradshaw put Morley in the ascendancy.

The visitors were guilty of taking their foot off the gas after the interval and two quick tries made it 33-19.

Morley steadied themselves and hit back through Karl Bradshaw on 69 minutes, although brother Simon was unsuccessful with the kick.

Rossendale grabbed their last score, a converted try, with 10 minutes remaining but Bradshaw struck a penalty with the last kick.

Birkenhead Park 13

Cleckheaton 20

With first use of the slope and the stiff breeze Birkenhead Park pinned Cleckheaton into their own 22 metre area for the first 15 minutes.

The Cleckheaton defence was resolute and they even turned Park's main attacking ploy, the rolling maul, on several occasions.

Eventually, a defender did stray off-side and Dave Hall kicked the penalty.

Cleckheaton used their back three players to outflank the home side and when Park defenders went offside, Iain Gordon levelled on 21 minutes.

Both sides exchanged penalties before fly-half Iain Gordon broke blind and the forwards arrived for Ryan Piercy to drive over from a yard out, Gordon converting.

Gordon's attempt from the half-way line rebounded off a post after the restart and Park broke out of defence and were awarded a penalty try to level as a defender tried to spoil the touch down.

Cleckheaton were able to keep the home side in their own half with the assistance of some intelligent kicks downfield from the backs.

Stand-in right winger Ollie Depledge showed good footballing skills to go close on a couple of occasions but it was not until the 70th minute that Cleckheaton's close quarter support enabled the industrious Rich Piper to power over, Gordon converting from wide out to earn them four points in their fight against relegation and inflicting on Park their first home defeat of the season.

Beverley 24

Darlington Mowden Park 36

AFTER dominating the game for 25 minutes and taking a 17-5 lead, Beverley inexplicably fell apart and ultimately lost a game they had looked on course to win with ease.

A fine break by captain David Worrall sent winger Mike Kilgannon clear to the line for an opening try and slick handling across the backs brought a try in the opposite corner for right winger Goran Jelencic.

Fly-half Phil Duboulay added both conversions and kicked a penalty as Beverley looked to be in control. But Beverley's game suddenly fell apart and Darlington got back into it with two tries by winger Matt Lister.

Two penalties by fly-half Sam Errington then reduced Beverley's lead to a single point at 17-16. Three minutes into the second half, their lead disappeared when Errington kicked a third penalty for Darlington.

Darlington assumed total control, but against the run of play centre Junior Tupai scythed his way through for a fine solo try to recapture the lead for Beverley with Duboulay adding the conversion.

Errington kicked a fourth penalty for Darlington and with 10 minutes remaining Beverley were desperately hanging on to a two point lead at 24-22. But two converted tries by Darlington centres Robin Etough and Dean Kelbrick in the space of two minutes effectively killed the game.

Beverley raised their game in the dying minutes and ended the match as strongly as they had begun it but were unable to make any inroads into the deficit.