For the third time in four matches Cleckheaton scored the same or more tries than their opposition but ended up losing the game by 7 or 8 points. This time it was Doncaster Phoenix stand-off Jamie Lennard who won the match for his team with 4 successful penalty kicks, netting the South Yorkshire men almost half of their points.

Lennard’s first success with the boot put his side 3-0 up in an uneventful and error strewn opening 20 minutes at Castle Park. The game was played largely in the middle third of the field with neither side managing to maintain possession in the others’ danger zone. Cleckheaton then sprang into life when they spread the ball quickly to their left after good forward pressure. Man of the Match, Matt Piper, found Oliver Depledge with a long looping pass and the winger stepped back inside his opposite number for an unconverted try. Tempers spilled over in this tight game on the half hour mark and Cleckheaton's Andy Piper and Phoenix's Andy Ellis were both shown red cards for having a fist based conversation, despite the fact that the argument was composed entirely of air shots. Cleck finished the first period in the ascendancy when Depledge went in for his second try and Neil Chivers converted to propel Cleckheaton into a 12-3 lead at the break.

Cleckheaton held the upper hand and should have been in control but Lennard put Phoenix within a converted try when he added another penalty goal early in the second-half. Cleckheaton tried to mount attacks but struggled to consolidate any momentum and then from a scrum 25m out, Phoenix’s No.8, Martin Protheroe, picked up and trundled all the way to the line. The conversion was successful and all of a sudden the Doncaster team had gone into one point lead. Cleckheaton regained their shape and after Lee Queeley nearly went in, fullback, James Wilson, chimed into the line from a play at the back of a 5m scrum and got over close to the sticks. Chivers converted and the visitors were back in the lead at 19-13. More indiscipline then crept into Cleckheaton's game and Lennard was able to level the scores for Phoenix with two more penalty kicks within 3 minutes of each other. The match was evenly poised and looked to be heading for a draw, when in the final minutes Doncaster's winger, James Wright, squeezed in at the corner to break the hearts of the Cleckheaton faithful. The conversion brought the final score to 26-19 to Doncaster Phoenix, leaving Cleck with another bonus point but the team will view it very much as 3 points lost rather than a point gained.

This was a disappointing afternoon for Cleckheaton particularly coupled with the red card but the players now have a fortnight before their next game, when they can regroup, bury their demons, exorcise the ghosts and be ready to unleash the monster as we welcome Kendal to Moorend on Halloween weekend.