Liverpool St Helens 29 Nuneaton 26

THERE has been no shortage of excitement at Moss Lane this season and Saturday's clash against Nuneaton proved no exception. LSH took command in the first part of the second half, establishing a 29-7 lead, playing breathtaking rugby.

An all too familiar sequence then followed, with Nuneaton fighting back, setting up the nerve tingling finale.

All this came after a scrappy first half in which LSH failed to capitalise on the strong wind at their backs and the visitors looked the better side.

The early decision to run two kickable penalties produced nothing for LSH and with Stand off Graeme Close, preferred to Simon Worsley, missing the one opportunity to come his way the home side were pointless approaching the end of the half.

The score, when it came, was a gem. Skipper Steve Cook took a blind side option from a scrum and the in-form Dan Jones sold two perfect dummies before crossing for a try converted by Close.

The lead was short-lived however as Nuneaton grabbed a deserved try in injury time through their hardworking player coach Chris Tarbuck, converted by Warwick Masser to level the score 7-7.

Shortly after the break LSH took the lead through leading try scorer Sean Casey bursting through the Nuneaton defence following a break down the left by Ray Doolan and Matt Nugent. Four minutes later the busy Matt Nugent was again the provider, this time finding his brother, Mike, who finished off a flowing move for the third try. By now LSH were in full flow.

Ignoring the strong wind, now in their faces, they continued to pressure the Nuneaton line and scored again through Casey, following an excellent break from Martin Gaskell.

Close landed all three conversions for a 26-7 lead, and when he slotted over a penalty to extend it to 29-7 with just twenty minutes to go, no-one on the ground was to know how valuable those last three points would be. Nuneaton's pack had caused problems all afternoon and flanker Mark Mitchell led the fight back after 24 minutes with a try from close range, converted by Masser.

Visiting fullback Jody Peacock also had a fine game and he made the next try for winger Martin Smith, also converted by Masser for a 29-21 scoreline with eight minutes left. In a tension filled final few minutes LSH hung on until Peacock powered over by the left corner flag.

Masser narrowly missed with the conversion and referee Nick Williams, one of the best seen at Moss Lane for some time, ended proceedings, to the obvious relief of the home crowd.

LSH travel to Sandal this week, and with Dudley being held to a draw by Darlington perhaps showing the first signs of pressure telling on the sides above, nothing less than a sizeable victory is required.

WATERLOO 2nd XV 17 LSH 2nd XV 20

LSH dominated the early stages of this Northern Merit encounter and established a 17-0 half time lead with tries from Chris Walker, Ian Orford and Jim Keulemans. Waterloo rallied in the second half, but a Martin Emmett penalty proved crucial in extending the visitors lead to record another important win.

LSH 3rd XV 70 WATERLOO XV 0

Mark Richards' men registered their second successive half-century of points in demolishing their Merseyside rivals. Darren Birmingham was on fire with three tries matched by Dave Pickavance who also notched a hat-trick. Simon Morgan ran in two and there was one apiece for Dave Hawley, Gary Copper, Matt Owen and Charlie Edwards.