Cleckheaton delivered a great start to the festive season and showed promise of a happy New Year when the club welcomed Birkenhead Park back to Moorend after a break of 6 years. It was the 2009/10 season that the two clubs were last league rivals and in that year Cleckheaton were able to win both home and away, meaning that Saturday’s victory completed a hat-trick of consecutive wins and added a much needed 4 league points to Cleck’s tally. It was an excellent team performance, particularly in the second half when the side executed the game plan to take the points.

The last time the teams played at Moorend the game finished 13-10 and this fixture was equally tight. Cleckheaton exerted early pressure but the concession of 6 penalties in the first 10 minutes meant Park where able to clear their lines. The last of these transgressions gave Birkenhead good field position and from the line-out that followed, the visitors drove forward before releasing centre, Danny Rich, to dive over in the corner. Cleckheaton continued to tick up the penalty count and prop Paul Turner was sent to the sin-bin for blatantly kicking a ball out of Park’s ruck. With the extra man advantage, the visiting pack pressured Cleck’s defence, which was manful but eventually succumbed when Hooker Stuart Brown went in to give his side a 10-0 lead. Restored to full compliment, Cleckheaton started to play some enterprising rugby and took the game to Birkenhead Park in the forwards. After the pack got close, Ryan Piercy collected the ball and forced his way over for an unconverted try, On the stroke of half time Ronan Evans added a penalty to put Cleckheaton right back in the game at 8-10.

Cleckheaton suffered a blow shortly into the second half when skipper, Richard Piper, had to leave the field through injury but 20 year old Jack Seddon, stepped up from flanker to fill the No.8 berth and had an excellent game. Cleckheaton worked hard in the forwards and relentlessly ran onto short balls and picked up at the back of rucks to make the hard yards up field, with Seddon, Piercy and Ben Thrower having plenty of success. Cleck went close on a couple of occasions before scrum half, Jack Bickerdike, feigned a pass from the back of a ruck and wriggled his way over to give Cleckheaton the lead. Birkenhead were far from finished though and regained the ascendency when Brown directed a rolling maul over the whitewash and touched down for his second try. Peter White converted, to give the Merseysiders the edge at 17-13. The lead was narrowed to a single point when Ronan Evans added another penalty goal following an incisive run from Tom Austin. With 15 minutes to go the game was still anyone’s but Cleckheaton looked more solid and were clearly adhering to a pattern of play designed to keep them in possession, whilst wearing down the opposition. The tactic paid dividends with 10 minutes to go when the Moorenders got what is probably their best try of the season, when winger Michael Hayward tiptoed up the touch line finding Turner in support. He off-loaded to Thrower who rounded his opponent with a deft step before flicking a pass out to 2nd row Josh Malkinson, who completed the 50m move for Cleckheaton’s third try. The conversion was missed but the lead wasn’t really threatened in the remaining 10 minutes and Cleckheaton claimed a well earned victory.

This was a confidence lifting win for the Moorenders, who complete the first half of their league campaign next week away at Rossendale. Cleckheaton have won only 3 of their 12 fixtures so far this year but have picked up 5 bonus points along the way. This win could represent a turning point and with good discipline and execution of the game plan, the team are capable of beating anyone in this league.