A late try from Greg Howland earned Wath Brow Hornets a narrow but deserved home win against Siddal in the NCL Premier Division.
It had been 10-10 when Howland slipped through for the match-winning try, although there was nearly late agony for the Hornets when the visitors crossed two minutes from the end but dropped the ball.
Siddal, who had beaten the Brow 24-16 earlier in the season on their own Halifax patch, had led 10-6 soon after half-time only for man of the match Sam Curwen to level things up.
In-form Ellison Holgate had earlier given Hornets the lead with the opening try, converted by Curwen.
For Egremont Rangers the second half of the season is going to be a battle to stay in the top flight and Saturday’s 56-6 defeat at leaders West Hull leaves them six points from safety.
They had conceded 50 points in the home defeat and knew they were in for a drubbing on Humberside when they turned round 40-0 down.
To their credit they kept at it and restrict the leaders to only 16 second-half points, managing a try themselves by Lee Rogers which was converted by Billy Thompson.
Kells remain top of Division One on points differential and a game in hand of Hull Dockers, after a hard-fought 22-14 win at Stanningley to complete a League double.
It hadn’t started well for the Cumbrians as they fell behind to an unconverted try on 13 minutes, but it stirred them into action. Building on a 12-4 half-time advantage they had secured a 22-4 lead approaching the hour.
Stanningley suggested they might hit back as they scored ten unanswered points but Kells saw it through for their tenth win in `12 games.
Harley Nelson, Jake Parker, Reece O’Neill and Ross Ainley scored the Kells tries with Ross Gainford landing three goals.
There had been a Cumbrian presence at the top of Division Two but Barrow Island conceded the lead when they lost 23-16 at Hunslet Warriors.
In actual fact it was a real surprise. Only the Warriors third win of the season it followed their decision to call off last week’s game through a shortage of players.
Barrow Island had earned six wins in a row to go top while the Hunslet side had lost their previous six – cue a shock!
The hosts had raced into an 18-0 lead but the Islanders hit back just before half-time with a try from Dan Wright which Sam Jons converted.
The revival seemed on soon after the break when Josh McBain scored a second try, again converted by Jones.
However the recovery was halted by two penalties and a field, goal from McKenzie Taylor and an unconverted try by Aidan Wright near the end was nowhere near enough for the Cumbrians.
The big West Cumbrian derby in Division Three between Seaton and Hensingham has been rearranged for later in the season.
Millom continued their climb up the Division Three table with a 44-10 win at bottom side Eastmoor Dragons.
It was close early in the second-half with Millom 18-10 to the good but a red card and then a sin-binning for two Eastmoor players gave the Cumbrians all the incentive they needed to run away with the game.
Tom Askew led the way for Millom with a hat-trick of tries while Niall Harris crossed twice. The other tries came from Hadley Thompson, Kyle Evans and Jude Lupton. Jack Newbegin kicked six goals.
