Wath Brow Hornets lost their unbeaten record and leadership of the NCL Premier Division in controversial fashion.
The Cumbrians lost 24-16 after playing for nearly 70 minutes with 12 men following a bizarre sending off for Cole Walker-Taylor.
The full-back had been sin-binned on 13 minutes for a professional foul but was shown a red card when he was deemed to have returned to the field too soon.
He appears to have had permission to do so by a young touch judge, and clearly Wath Brow were not happy with the red card outcome.
Under the circumstances every Brow player that came off the field at the end could be proud of the shifts that they had put in. For as well as the red card they also had two sin-binnings to contend with.
On a bone hard playing surface Siddal had the Brow under pressure, scoring out wide following piggy-back penalties in the first five minutes 4-0.
The Hornets could just not get hold of the ball and more penalties enabled Siddal to score two more tries for a 14-0 lead.
Brow’s task got even harder with the red card for Walker Taylor, but some dour defending from the 12 men saw them through to half time without further damage.
An inspiring half time talk from coach Ian Rooney sent the Brow out with the believe that they could still get something out of the game.
But it didn’t start too well for after pegging Siddal back the hosts broke and a very fortunate bounce let them in for a try in the corner.
From that point Brow’s true grit paid dividends and they started making inroads into the home lead.
Aiden Dawson crashed over for a try, which was converted by Sam Curwen and four minutes later Ellison Holgate slipped the Siddal defence and scored under the posts. Curwen converted and at 18-12 the game seemed to be changing.
Unfortunately, following the intervention of the young touch judge, Brow were hit by another sin-binning, although it quickly became 12 against 11 when Siddal -carded.
Peter Caddy then got over the try-line out wide and although the conversion was just wide the Brow were right back in it at 18-16 with three minutes left.
Frantic play by both teams ended in a break by Siddal and although a forward pass was indicated by the touch judge it was waved away by the referee.
Indeed there was also a case for a foot in touch, indicated by the touch judge, but again waved away by the referee allowing Siddal to score in the corner and land the conversion.
That first defeat sees the Hornets slip to fourth in the table with West Hull the only unbeaten side in the Premier Division.
They only took 16 players to Egremont but were far too strong for the Rangers and ran-out 50-0 winners.
There was a brave performance in defeat from Egremont full-back Fraser McNee but West Hull had the game won by half-time as they raced into a 36-0 lead.
West Hull scored nine tries, seven of which were converted, and despite the reduced options from the bench cruised to victory over a deflated Egremont side.
In Division One Kells coach Peter Smith could hardly have asked for a better response to their first defeat of the season.
After losing at Wigan St. Patrick’s they beat Oulton Raiders, who had gone into the game as League leaders.
In the opening 34 minutes Kells established a 24-0 lead with four converted tries, leaving Oulton with too much to do. It finished 38-18.
Jordan Burns and Aaron Burns both scored inside the opening seven minutes and soon after Dominic Wear raced through to score the third.
A perfect start was continued when Joe Moore touched down after 34 minutes and Ross Gainford’s fourth conversion had Kells purring.
Credit to Oulton, though, they scored twice before the break through Craig Wright and Nathan Waters, both converted by Keiron Walpole.
They really needed to score first on the resumption but it was Harry Watson who found the try line for Kells after nine minutes.
It stayed that way until the 72nd minute when Jack Ainley scored for Kells, who then had their best player Jake Parker sin-binned.
It lifted Oulton and they scored their third try through Ryan Sandham, converted by Walpole.
But Kells deservedly had the last word when Ross Ainley skipped through for a try which Grant Gainford converted.
Barrow Island scored their fourth successive win in League Two when they beat Normanton Knights 28-24 thanks to a try two minutes from time by Adam Jackson.
The Islanders had made a flying start, 12-0 ahead inside seven minutes and later 22-12 in front early in the second half.
Yet the battling Knights had fought-back level at 24-24 when Jackson popped up with the winner.
Jackson supplied 12 of the points with a try and four goals while the other four tries came from Noah Robinson, Adam Ford, Sam Jones and Stu Biscomb.
All three Cumbrian clubs lost in Division Three, although Seaton went closest, beaten 26-18 at Oldham St. Anne’s.
The hosts needed a try six minutes from the end to make sure of the win against a determined and capable Seaton side.
The Cumbrians had, in fact, been 16-0 down as they found their feet after the trip down. They had closed to 16-8 at half-time with tries from Jon Carl-Bryan and Ben Postlethwaite.
Although they never got their noses in front subsequent tries from Levi Wallbanks and Lewis Brown kept them in the hunt until the late decisive St. Anne’s try. Craig Foster landed one conversion.
Chris Smith gave Hensingham an early lead at Batley Boys with a try which Noel Branthwaite converted.
But the Batley side had established a 16-6 lead by half-time and although Jessie-Joe Parker scored a second try for the Cumbrians, improved by Branthwaite, they couldn’t get near enough to threaten a come-back win.
Millom contributed to a points-feast at Drighlington but were largely on the receiving end in a 70-34 defeat.
The Woollybacks scored tries through Rio McQuistan (2), Owen Myers, Robbie Pattinson, Ross Brooke and Kian McPherson. Jonty Peters kicked five goals.
