NCL reports: Dewsbury Moor Maroons and Shaw Cross Sharks in winning form but Dewsbury Celtic miss out

Having previously played them in a pre-season friendly and winning by a comfortable margin expectations of victory were high. However, with injuries and work commitments affecting the settled nature of the Moor side in recent weeks this proved to be a much sterner test than many would have expected.

They met the big Milford forward pack head on in the early stages with some crunching tackles from Hepworth, James and Adams.

A fantastic kick return from the fleet footed Clarkson set the Moor up with great field position from which to launch an attack. The ever impressive Crossley darted up the middle and found the supporting Ineson who was held inches short.

A long dummy-half pass from the returning Cameron Bruce found his brother Finley who skipped across the line and gave a short a ball to the dangerous runner Joe Berry who duly held off two defenders to score the first try.

Milford were marched back down field with ease after tremendous runs from Hepworth and O’Sulllivan. Great attacking play from Walker and Finley Bruce had the Milford defence scrambling on their own try line with Burland being held just short.

A quick tap penalty allowed the powerful Crossley to burrow his way over and although the conversion was missed it was 8-0 with little more than 10 minutes gone.

Things were looking ominous for the home team, but some resolute defence and last ditch tackles held the visitors scoreless for the next 20 minutes.

A great backline move then had Crossley and Walker linking up to put O’Sullivan away and with the supporting Burland on his shoulder a short pass to him enabled Moor to make it 12-0.

A lapse in concentration from the restart saw Milford have the ball in good field position and their big number eight crashed over.The conversion made it 12-6 at half-time.

The second half got under way in similar fashion to the first with great runs from Richardson, Hepworth and Tom Berry giving the visitors early control. However, some uncharacteristic errors started creeping into the Moor game with chances being created by Walker, Finley Bruce and Mennell going begging.

The game was slowly becoming a real slug fest with Moor unable to land that knockout blow and Milford growing in stature.

The powerful Maroons pack was working overtime and great work by Tom Berry, Adams and James gave the lively Hollingworth the opportunity to dart over. The goal made it 18-6.

Milford now went for broke and only last ditch defence from Butterfield and Joe Berry kept the home side at bay.

A towering kick from the Milford scrum-half had Mennell in all sorts of trouble and he was unable to field the ball, which resulted in the home team scoring under the posts.

With 10 minutes left and one score behind the home team were getting on top. But with Richardson and James proving a handful for the home side first Hollingworth was held up and then it was Burland’s turn to be held just short.

With Finley Bruce pulling the strings a great pass out to the ever impressive Joe Berry had the home side floundering and a high tackle gave the Moor the chance to add two points. They took it to move 20-12 in front.

With only five minutes left it looked as though the men from Dewsbury had killed the game off, but another humongous up and under from the Milford half-back again had Mennell flapping and the ball bounced straight into the half-back’s hands and he duly dotted down at the side of the posts.

With three minutes left it was game on and a frenetic last few minutes ensued, but the score remained the same as the referee blew up for full-time.

Declan Tomlinson was a key figure for Shaw Cross Sharks in their 32-12 Division Two victory over Saddleworth Rangers.

The Sharks notched two Lucas Howley tries and a Callum Barker touchdown in the first 14 minutes and Tomlinson crossed as the break beckoned, adding his third goal for a 22-0 lead.

Tomlinson got in on the act again, two minutes into the second period, with his second try and fourth conversion. Five minutes later, though, he was sin-binned for alleged late contact and, in his absence, Saddleworth recorded two tries and two goals by the similarly influential Matt Whitehead.

But the Sharks, despite having Brandon French yellow-carded with 12 minutes left, closed on top with Barker’s second try.

Dewsbury Celtic went down 30-10 to Wigan St Judes after finding themselves 20-0 down at the interval.

Declan Parkinson crossed twice in the first half, when Jacob Dugdale and James Worthington also charged over.

The sin-binning of Wigan’s Aaron Smith three minutes into the second period for a late hit enabled Celtic to grab a lifeline with tries by Antony Dunford and Lewis Teal, the second of which Luke Johnson converted.

But Judes steadied themselves with tries by Josh Hill and Smith, with Parkinson landing his third goal.

Celtic’s cause, meanwhile, was not helped by the sin-binning on 62 minutes of Danny Lee for a professional foul.