Cleckheaton 38 Durham City 17

Cleckheaton entertained Durham City for the first time in many years at Moorend and came away with an impressive bonus point win.
Several players had picked up knocks in the defeat at York last week, Joey Carley was on the bench at the start along with Chris Piper and Archie Rika-Rayne. Brad Marsden returned and Jack Seddon was back at No.8.
Cleckheaton got on the board first with a pin point kick across the field from Dale Breakwell which found Mikey Hayward, he still had plenty to do but evaded a couple of despairing tackles to score wide on the left , the conversion went wide , 5-0 after 6 minutes. A terrific rolling maul made some 20 metres down the right towards the try line but hooker Ben Thrower was adjudged to have broken away from maul and the chance was lost. Tempers were getting a bit frayed, Durham had a player sent to the sin bin when Jack Marshall got a bang on the nose which had him leave the field to stem the flow of blood ,this brought Joey Carley into play in the unfamiliar right wing position with James Wilson reverting to full back . The numerical advantage didnt last as Dale Breakwell incurred the wrath of the referee with a high tackle and he was also sin binned on the half hour mark, Durham kicked the simple penalty and it was 5-3. The lead was extended when captain Matt Piper backed up some smart work by Tom Breakwell to crash over under the posts, he also added the extras on 34 minutes 12-3 at half time.
Durham had the majority of the possession at the start of the 2nd half and put the home team under great pressure with some superb ball retention. It came as no surprise when Durham scored next to the posts after a period of pressure the kick was good 12-10.
Jack Marshall returned after his blood injury and Cleckheaton were back at full strength with Breakwell out of the bin, Chris Piper was brought on for Ben Thrower. The Cleckheaton pack were starting to dominate proceedings and another classic rolling maul after Tom Austin won ball at the line out saw prop Andy Piper rumble over the whitewash to extend the lead to 17-10. Just 5 minutes later , Jack Seddon got on the end of a superb ball from Olly Depledge to give Cleckheaton a bit of breathing space and the bonus point try. Dale Breakwell added the goal 24-10 with 20 minutes to play. Archie Rika-Rayne was introduced in place of Niall Jackson on 63 minutes.
Durham added their second try on 66 minutes which was converted 24-17.
From the restart the ball didnt go 10 metres and Cleckheaton set about restoring their lead , Andy Piper again controlled the driving maul for his 2nd try of the game, Dale Breakwell converted 31-17. With the home pack dominant , the Durham prop was sin binned for an incorrect bind and in similar fashion to the previous driving maul, the Durham pack was sent into reverse, this time Ryan Piercy crashing over for his second try of the season, Dale Breakwell added the goal and at the end of the game the score had gone out to 38-17.
This was a good all round performance from Cleckheaton, dominant in the pack and with Man of the Match Mikey Hayward a constant threat out wide. Durham never gave up and were in the game for long periods but the 2 yellow cards hindered their progress.
Next week , Cleckheaton travel to Driffield looking for a first win on the road this season, kick off is at 3.00.