Cleckheaton 22 - 15 Northern

Cleckheaton continued their winning ways against opponents who never gave up and at one stage looked the possible victors.A side shorn of players such as Paul Turner,Richard Piper and James Wilson is sure to be disadvantaged given their influence on a game but in Ed Chappelow, Danny Furness,Craig Blackburn and the returning Craig Rika, Cleck had excellent replacements who in their individual ways all contributed to an ultimately deserved victory.
The home side were first on the scoreboard when forward pressure led to Craig Rika diving over for a try which was unconverted.Northern had a chance to reduce the arrears but centre Callum O'Halloran was short with a penalty attempt.Rika was yellow carded but despite their numerical disadvantage winger Ross Hayden darted in for Cleckheaton's second try following good work from young scrum half Olly Depledge.Iain Gordon added the conversion.
In injury time at the break Northern were back in the game when No 8 Paul Brady went over for a try.
O'Halloran was first to make his mark in the second half with a penalty and in the 50th minute Northern took the lead for the first time when lively scrum half Tom Evans sprinted through for a try which was converted.This appeared to spark Cleckheaton to greater efforts and the forwards with Ryan Piercy particularly prominent began to dominate both possession and territory.Iain Gordon levelled the scores with a long range penalty and with ten minutes to go Mitch Ashworth finished off a flowing back move with a try which was converted by Iain Gordon,calming the nerves of the supportive Moorend crowd,which is growing with every game.
The expectation at Cleckheaton is now much greater than for the last few seasons simply because of the run of recent victories.However,this optimism has to be seen in the context of several key players being absent and the realistic ambition is to remain competitive and a top four side come the end of the season.There are some good sides in this league and on their day any side can cause an upset.This Saturday Cleck make the short trip to Woodhead to meet local rivals Old Brodleians who have already made their mark on proceedings by inflicting first defeats on both West Hartlepool and Wheatley Hills.This is sure to be a big test and a big crowd is expected.