Shaw Cross 14 Blackbrook 16 BLACKBROOK staged a stirring second half fightback to clinch this Conference League First Division encounter.

After taking an early two-point lead they trailed 6-14 at the interval but, inspired by Jason Mitchell, Steve Molyneux and Phil Smith, they regained the initiative late in the second half and hung on tenaciously to their slender lead.

Blackbrook also had outstanding contributions from Dave Ryan and Andy Fisher in the pack and Paul Toole and Mike Maloney in the back division.

Stand-off Toole opened the visitors account with a fine angled penalty goal on 15 minutes.

But the homesters hit back strongly with half-backs Howard Marshall and Mark Chapman making good progress in midfield before burley prop forward Dave Garforth burst through two attempted tackles to score near the posts. Chapman converted.

Stand-off Chapman increased the Dewsbury side's lead to eight points with an unconverted try on 31 minutes.

Two penalty goals from full back Darren Senior gave Shaw Cross a 12-point cushion at 14-2, but Brook's Mike Maloney rounded off a fine five-man crossfield handling movement with a try in the corner on the stroke of half-time.

After the break, Brook staged a remarkable revival - scoring 10 points without reply - to wrest the vital league points.

Paul Toole reduced the deficit with an angled penalty goal on 45 minutes, and added the conversion to a Chris Webber touchdown ten minutes later, to level the scores at 14-all.

Paul Toole put the icing on a very enjoyable cake for Blackbrook with a match-winning penalty goal on 68 minutes. Saddleworth A 11Blackbrook A 8

Blackbrook A suffered a narrow defeat in their opening NWC third division encounter at Saddleworth on Saturday.

There was little to choose between the teams throughout and despite the visitors scoring two tries to the homesters one, Saddleworth held a definite trump card in Sean Whitehead who landed three crucial drop goals to settle the issue.

John Simms opened the scoring with an early Penalty goal for the home side, but a fine try by Ian Marsh edged Blackbrook into a 4-2 lead.

Excellent defensive work by Brook kept their line intact until Paul Hindley eventually found a way through just before the break and John Simms edged the homesters into an 8-4 interval lead with the conversion.

Nevertheless, Brook started the second half in a confident manner but handling errors in crucial positions ruined several good scoring opportunities.

Sean Whitehead increased the homesters lead with two well taken drop goals and Brook responded with a fine try by Mick Allender to reduce the deficit to two points at 8-10 before Whitehead popped up with his third drop goal in the last minute of the game.

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