Wath Brow rise to second in Premier Division

Wath Brow are up to second in the National Conference Premier Division – with more than a little help from Castleford side Lock Lane.

For while the Hornets were seeing off a stubborn Siddal side 28-12, Lock Lane were administering a 52-20 drubbing to joint leaders Rochdale Mayfield.

Wath Brown are now a point behind Hunslet Amateurs with Mayfield a point further back in third, although the Rochdale side do have a game in hand over the two ahead of them.

The Cumbrians, though, had to work hard to see off Siddal, producing a forceful second-half performance after they had trailed 12-10 at the break. They scored 18 unanswered points to win well in the end.

Jake Moore and Morgan McCourt had scored first-half tries for Wath Brow, one of them converted by Cole Walker-Taylor.

The second-half saw them pull away with tries from Walker-Taylor, McCourt and Ellison Holgate with goals from Moore (2) and Walker-Taylor.

Kells should have been playing at Wigan St Patrick’s but the game was called off because the pitch was considered too hard.

The prolonged period of hot and dry weather had caused pitch problems – described as rock hard by some clubs – and as a result five fixtures in the NCL were postponed.

In Division One Egremont Rangers started the day in second place but without a fixture ended up in fourth following victories for Heworth and Skirlaugh.

Egremont’s blank Saturday had not anything to do with hard pitches but the fact they had no programmed game.

Barrow Island moved into the top half of Division Two with a 48-36 home win over Myton Warriors.

It would have been an even more convincing win for the Islanders but they allowed the visitors to score three converted tries in the last five minutes.

Adam Jackson kicked eight goals for the Furness side and the tries were scored by Sam Jones (2), Shane Sanderson (2), Dan Wright, Cameron Currie, Adam Ford and Josh McBain.

Both Ellenborough Rangers and Hensingham scored excellent victories in Division Three as they toppled the top two sides.

Hensingham’s 26-24 home win over leaders Leigh East was probably their best result since joining the National Conference League.

The visitors arrived in west Cumbria on the back of a seven-match winning run and were 24-20 ahead with just seven minutes remaining.

But Aidan Price got over to level it for Hensingham and Miles Dalton put over the conversion to give his side the lead and enough incentive to hold on.

In fact Hensingham had started strongly as well, going into a 16-0 lead before being pegged back to 16-14 by the break.

Jack Kellett (2), Reuben Butterworth and Scott Egan scored tries for Hensingham with Dalton converting two of them.

Ellenborough also produced an excellent performance to beat Oldham St. Anne’s 20-6, ending the visitors’ nine match winning run and avenging a 40-6 drubbing earlier in the season.

Andy Ostle had scored two first-half tries, converted by Owen Hoyles to help Elbra into a 12-6 interval lead.

It was tough going in the second-half and there were no further points until six minutes from the end when Hoyles put over a penalty.

With time almost-up Gary Taylor raced over for Elbra’s clinching try which Hoyles improved.

Millom made it a hat-trick of Cumbrian wins when they beat Bentley 36-12 to stay fourth in the table.

Tries from Aiden Wilson and Jude Lupton, both converted by Lee Postlethwaite, gave Millom a flying start and at half-time they were sitting on a 22-6 advantage.

They increased their advantage in the second-half and tries throughout from Amawaki Saumaki (2), Hadley Thompson, Rio McQuistan and Ethan Kelly, plus two more Postlethwaite goals saw them comfortably home.

Seaton Rangers couldn’t make it a full house for the Cumbrian clubs as they continue to be hampered by injuries. They only took 15 players to Eastmoor Dragons and were beaten 48-0.

Full-back Billy Southward was a stand-out performer for the Rangers who battled manfully to the end despite the lack of options from the bench.