St Helens Vine 19 Blackpool Scorpions 12 THE Scorpions went into this vital top of the table clash with six regular players missing.

This really was a game of two halves as far as the Scorpions performance was concerned.

Vine took a 10-0 lead after only nine minutes through two tries and a conversion mainly due to the Scorpions sloppy play.

The could have gone further ahead but for a last ditch tackle by young Danny Webster who had been drafted in at full-back.

Another youngster Ben Simpson went close for Scorpions but was tackled into touch just short of the line. But the Scorpions habit of making mistakes in their own half, which has plagues them recently, gave the home team territorial advantage.

They increased their lead to 19-0 with a drop goal, a penalty and a converted try just before half-time.

In the second half the Scorpions were a different team as they were led by some great driving runs by forwards Steve Woodburn, Paul Gamble and Dave Ratcliffe and substitute Steve Barlow.

They penned the Vine in their own half as they piled on the pressure. Chris Pearson missed a chance as he fumbled the ball with the line at his mercy. He made amends a few minutes later when he scored a try after John Bond had made a 40 yard run down the wing to create good field position for Pearson to score. Craig Campbell converted and the Scorpions were back in the game.

John Bond was held up over the line and then Simon Pritchard put Paul Gamble over under the posts but the referee disallowed it for a forward pass.

Chris Pearson created the next try when he kicked across field on the last tackle, a Vine player dropped the ball and Craig Campbell swooped on the loose ball to score. He then converted to make the score 19-12.

The game finished with the Scorpions hammering the Vine line but just couldn't get over. If they had shown the same determination in the first half as in the second they would have won comfortably.