West Park St Helens 28 - 24 Cleckheaton

The curse of inconsistency was once more very much in evidence at Redrocks on Saturday when Cleckheaton basically handed their hosts a first victory of the season. Holding a 12 point lead going into the last quarter of the game Cleck showed an alarming lack of composure and application to defend the lead, giving away penalties under pressure and gifting tries by their own mistakes.

For the first hour Cleckheaton were the better side with debutant Dominic Brambani showing a range of footballing skills at stand off, Ross Hayden and Tinus Venter supporting well in broken play and the scrum dominating the home unit. However, it has to be said that life is never boring watching this Cleckheaton team. As well as tries that can be scored through individual brilliance, team skills or pure beligerence, the next minute a dropped pass, a lack of concentration or discipline gifts the opposition a score. This was the case last Saturday where the major topic of conversation was how this was becoming a pattern and how a team which contains many talented individuals is not gelling consistently as a unit.

Cleckheaton were first on the scoreboard when a clever grubber kick inside by winger Craig Blackburn was finished off by Ross Hayden who converted his own try. To prove the old cliche 'a team is most vulnerable when it has just scored', Park soon hit back with tries by Danny Higham and stand off Mark Ovens, one of which was converted by the latter. Once more Cleck asserted themselves and tries in quick succession prior to the break pushed them back into the lead. Firstly it was Dominic Brambani who burst through the defensive line to score a debut try which Ross Hayden converted. Two minutes later another break by Brambani gave Marlon Miller the chance, which he took, to score wide out. Hayden was wide with the conversion attempt. Cleck had the advantage at half time but the lead could and should have been more.

Within five minutes of the restart Cleckheaton had extended their lead to twelve points when Marlon Miller scored his second try following an excellent kick over the defence by scrum half Matthew Piper. Dominic Brambani stepping in for Ross Hayden who had been injured in the move leading to the score, was wide with the attempted conversion.

As West Park made changes of personnel most notably at stand off and No 8, so their spirits rose and two tries within six minutes by John McGarvey and Neil Best reduced the arrears to two points. The home side were now sensing a victory and began to exert pressure on the Cleck line. In the 57th minute substitute McGarvey put West Park into the lead for the first time with a penalty and on 74 minutes secured victory with another successful effort from under the posts.

Cleckheaton rallied but were unable to create any further scoring opportunities and remain winless on their travels this season.

The last five minutes of the game said it all. From a position of superiority with scrum dominance and a secure lead, Cleck had managed to dig themselves a hole and bury themselves with the contents. Mistakes were plentiful and the team appeared to lack self-belief. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel if the experience of Saturday evening was anything to go by. The southern hemisphere players in the party were admirable in their attempts to create a 'bonding' team spirit and the post match atmosphere enhanced by Bossy Muller's guitar cameos and Edu's singing was a very agreeable experience, even for the older members of the supporters club who really should have been tucked up in bed, but who follow their team through thick and thin.