Dewsbury Moor Maroons and Shaw Cross Sharks maintain promotion bid but setback for Celtic

Victory over Normanton Knights looked less then certain, however, as they trailed 8-0 at half-time to their West Yorkshire rivals.

But a strong recovery saw the Maroons run out 18-14 winners of a close contest to move level with Waterhead whose game was postponed.

Normanton, who had won 21-16 at their ground earlier in the season, led through tries by Stu Biscomb and Taylor Carter, while Moor’s cause was not helped in the first half by the sin-binning of Kieron Hepworth for a high tackle.

Hepworth made amends as he scored the hosts’ first try on 56 minutes and the Maroons then established a winning lead with touchdowns on 68 and 71 minutes by James Samme and Louie Walker respectively, the latter completing a three-goal input.

Adam Biscomb’s try for Normanton, with Carter adding the extras, was too late to alter where the points were going.

Across town, an Evan Stephenson try two minutes from time, with Dec Tomlinson landing his fourth goal, helped earn title hopefuls Shaw Cross Sharks a narrow 28-26 win over a Wigan St Judes side that had bounced back from 12 points adrift on three occasions.

Brad Wakenshaw, Callum Barker, Lucas Harley and Brandon Bates had crossed earlier for the Sharks, who had won 28-18 in Wigan.

The Saints, meanwhile, had opened through Harry Parkinson and Dec Parkinson before rallying from 22-10 behind with a Connor Parkinson brace, preceded by Dec Parkinson’s second score. The latter landed three goals in a 14-point haul.

Dewsbury Celtic suffered a third successive defeat, but remain in the top six despite their 18-10 reverse at Myton Warriors.

The Warriors, who are themselves eying the play-off spots, were level at 10-10 as the interval beckoned, but went in front through Nathan Slater.

That was how it stayed until Tyler Fisher’s late clincher, shortly after Myton’s Lee Fewless had been sent-off for alleged striking.

Fisher and Liam Ward had notched the Warriors’ opening tries while Celtic had been level through tries by Jordan Hirst and Danny Thomas, with Thomas adding a conversion.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​