Cleckheaton were made to work hard to secure their second home win and stay unbeaten at Moorend in their 2014/15 campaign. Rossendale are a team who share many similar attributes to Cleckheaton and from the opening moments of the game it became clear that the contest would be decided through teamwork, honest toil and good old determination. Jarrad Toulson was recalled to the team at Fullback, allowing coach Ian Armitage, to try Ross Hayden at outside centre, where he would get more opportunities to get hands on the ball.

The opening 20 minutes was a battle of defences where neither side offered any quarter. Cleckheaton ran hard into tackles and presented a solid wall to counter any Rossendale advance, with Rob Afoa Peterson adding some notable hits. The visitors did the same though and apart form the odd foray, the game was played out between the two 22’s. The pattern was broken when Ryan McKibbon, Rossendale’s No. 8, broke down the blindside from the back of a maul and managed to evade a tackle and go over the whitewash. Steve Nutt converted to put the visitors 7-0 in front.

Cleckheaton responded well and upped the tempo from the restart. A good tactical kick from Michael Piper, was not dealt with by Rossendale and Cleckheaton were rewarded with a line out on the visitors’ 22. Ben Thrower, who had had a strong game, found Ollie Akroyd and the Cleckheaton catch and drive machine got to work. Rossendale tried hard to prevent Cleckheaton reaching the line but this was in vain, as Richard Piper went over for Cleckheaton’s first try. Ross Hayden levelled the scores with a conversion a couple of yards from the touchline side.

Tempers frayed as half time approached and Rossendale were reduced to 14 men when their openside flanker was shown a yellow card. Cleckheaton tapped and tried to gain an immediate advantage but it wasn’t to be and the score remained unchanged at the break.

Rob Afoa Peterson was forced to leave the field at half time due to a hyperextension of his upper arm and was replaced by Tom Austin who acquitted himself well. Ten minutes into the half Rossendale went in for their second try via a push over of their own. As the conversion was added, the outlook for Cleckheaton looked bleaker due to Jack Bickerdike having to leave the field with a recurrence of a knee injury that has plagued the player all month. James Wilson entered the fray and reprised his colts’ days by going straight in at scrum half. As the game entered the last quarter Cleckheaton started to build pressure. One or two choice kick-chases from Craig Blackburn and Matt Piper kept the visitors on the back foot and some strong forward drives from Richard Piper and man of the match, Alex Dawson, threatened to puncture Rossendale’s defence. Cleckheaton won a line out 10m from the Lancashire men’s line and as the ensuing maul was about to cross the whitewash, Cleckheaton were illegally pulled down and the referee awarded a penalty try. The simple conversion was added by Hayden and the scores were level once again.

Cleckheaton took the lead for the first time in the game with a penalty goal 30m out and with less than ten minutes left on the clock, a good restart and strong return would tip the tie in Cleckheaton’s favour. Unfortunately the restart was far from good and a fumbled ball gave Rossendale possession. Cleckheaton managed to recover it somehow but then looked to have hit the self-destruct button when a very loose pass saw the ball land in the Moorenders’ in-goal area. Whilst the crowd had their hearts in their mouths, Rossendale piled on immense pressure from the resulting 5m scrum and were held inches short. A penalty a few yards from the line could have easily been converted to level the scores but the visitors choose to go for the outright win with a quick tap. Cleckheaton showed their metal and with a great team effort kept Rossendale from crossing the line and eventually forced them into an error. With time up, the referee blew to end the game with Cleckheaton claiming the four points.

This was a tough run out and one in which some unforced errors nearly led to the team grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory. The fact they didn’t should strengthen their belief as they enter 3 weeks of testing local derbies with away games against Sandal and Huddersfield YMCA in the next fortnight before Morley come to Moorend on the 18th October.