Cleckheaton had to work very hard in the last 30 minutes of this match to secure a victory in their crunch game at home to Firwood Waterloo. Supported by a sizeable crowd on a warm spring afternoon, the Moorenders showed great strength of character to battle to the very end for a win, which with half an hour to go seemed unlikely.

Whilst Tom Austin and Brad Marsden were out of contention with injuries, Cleckheaton were able to welcome Lee Queeley and Ross Hayden back into their squad. Ronan Evans commenced the game at stand-off with Neil Chivers at outside centre just like the team’s last outing away at Hull. Waterloo opened the scoring when a break in centre field could not be reined in and Tom Lovell went in for a try for the visitors, converted by Liam Reeve. Cleckheaton responded well to this setback and the pack, with Jack Bickerdike in the driving seat at scrum half, pressed Waterloo’s line. Jack Seddon went close and so did Paul Turner before skipper, Richard Piper, barged his way over from the back of a close range scrum. Hayden added the extras to level the scores.

Cleckheaton were then caught napping by Waterloo, who clearly demonstrated their superior pace in the three quarters, when a couple of missed one on one tackles by Cleckheaton were punished by long range scores from the Merseyside men. First Reeve crossed and then Lovell went in for his second, both converted by Reeve to put Loo into a 21-7 lead. Cleckheaton were unable to respond and at the interval Waterloo held a handsome lead.

Cleckheaton went further behind when Reeve added a penalty goal 10 minutes into the second half and left the Moorenders trailing by 17 points. A victory, and with it the home team’s tenure in National 3 North, was hanging by a thread. However, the side never gave up hope and with grit and determination fought their way back into the match. Danny Vento crossed after the forwards rumbled their way into good field position. Ryan Piercy, Luke Pearson and Andy Piper being eager for work and Joey Carley and Ben Thrower adding fresh legs from the bench. The ball was spread across field by Bickerdike and Matt Piper and Vento dummied to his wing man, Josh Hall, before stepping in field for a well taken try. Hayden converted. Cleckheaton continued to apply the pressure and won a penalty resulting in a line out close to Waterloo’s line. Mark Chivers was accurate with his throwing all afternoon and a good set piece resulted in Jack Seddon stretching his way over in the corner. Hayden converted from the touchline side and Cleckheaton were with 3 points of their opposition.

As the clock ticked down the atmosphere became incredibly tense with both sets of supporters chewing their nails to the bone and cheering their side on. With two minutes left to go, Cleckheaton once again found themselves close to Waterloo’s whitewash and James Wilson looked to have got the ball close to the ground before Vento, playing what will be his last game for the club for some time, made this absolutely certain, to the rapturous applause of the Cleckheaton faithful. The referee blew the final whistle and the Moorenders celebrated their 5 league points.

With Doncaster Phoenix getting a surprise win over Kendal on Saturday, Cleckheaton’s victory over Waterloo became all that more vital. With just three games left there is still everything to play for with Cleckheaton, Morley and Doncaster Phoenix all fighting to avoid the last relegation spot. Cleck gave their chances a significant boost on Saturday and will raise their chances even more if they can anything at all out of the game against unbeaten league leaders, Huddersfield, who they face at Lockwood park this Saturday.