On a wet day at Broomfield Avenue, the teams took to a muddy pitch for this North 1 East clash between two of the top four sides in the current table. The contest promised to be demanding with Crossleyans looking to maintain their unbeaten home record this season, whilst Cleckheaton were seeking to consolidate their position at the top of the league.

Things looked bright for the home side shortly after kick-off, when Cleckheaton's defence was caught napping, allowing Old Crossleyans stand-off, Chris Jones, to ghost through a gap and have the deceptive pace to make it all the way to the line. The conversion was missed. Cleckheaton responded positively with strong forward play from Paul Turmer, Ben Thrower and Grant Turton earning a line out on Crocs' 22. Old Crossleyans were aware of Cleckheaton's dominant catch and drive and set themselves to defend it robustly. Despite this, the clean take and set from Ollie Akroyd and the power of the pack was just too strong for the home side. Richard Piper walked the ball to within 1 metre of the line before a cross-field kick from Michael Piper found James Wilson on the far wing for an equalising try.

Cleckheaton continued to pin Crossleyans back and a well directed kick from Michael Piper and a determined chase and tackle from Martin Woodhead bundled the defending winger into touch before he had time to clear his line. The subsequent catch and drive was held up in-goal and despite Crocs disrupting Cleckheaton's 5m scrum, they only cleared their line as far as their 22, where the ball was fielded and given to Lee Queeley. The Centre ran direct and hard, almost getting to the whitewash, before off-loading to James Wilson who went in for his and Cleckheaton's 2nd try. Ross Hayden converted to give Cleck a 12-5 lead.

Old Crossleyans' No. 8, Ryan Hammond, was sin-binned for a punch on Cleckheaton's Man of the Match Jack Bickerdike and from the resulting penalty and line-out Cleckheaton set up a maul. Whilst the visitors were expecting further forward drives, quick hands from Bickerdike and Mike Piper gave Matt Piper a potential scoring run at the line and he duly obliged taking two defenders with him. Hayden converted.

Cleckheaton's bonus point try came when, defying the rule that props can't pass, Andy Piper took a ball on the home side's 22 and with a shimmy and a delicate lift back inside to Ryan Piercy, put the second rower in a massive gap, which he trotted through to score under sticks. Hayden converted with the last action of the half to give Cleck a 26-5 lead at the break.

The attacking prowess that Cleckheaton demonstrated in the first half was matched by their defensive effort in the second. James Wilson was sin binned for a high tackle and spent 10 minutes on the sideline. Cleckheaton brought substitutes Chris Piper, Alex Dawson and Johhno Marshall into play and Crossleyans lost flanker Manny Riaz, to what appeared to be a very badly broken arm and from which we wish him a speedy recovery. Apart from those breaks in play, the vast majority of second period took place in Crossleyans' half, most of it around their 22m line. Time and time again the home side tried to bash their way up field, repeatedly refusing the kick option. To their credit they recycled the ball very well and prevented Cleckheaton from gaining possession. However, The Moorenders' defence was equally determined, with Rob Afoa-Peterson and Richard Piper to the fore and after about 20 phases of play Crocs had made little to no ground. This pattern of play continued until the final whistle, when the referee ended a scoreless second half.

This was a dominant performance by Cleckheaton and one that bodes well for a season which is already starting to develop some real promise for Ian Armitage's team.