Bamber Bridge 28 Weaverham Rangers 16

WEAVERHAM Rangers, hit by injuries to key players, fell to their first away defeat of the season on Saturday against their Preston opponents.

Two early converted tries set Weaverham back before they started to make an impact on the game, mainly thanks to man of the match Gary Evans and the tireless Anthony Moores.

It was Moores who crossed for his third try in two games and Dave Gray's conversion pulled it back to 12-6 at half-time.

The second half started with Bridge kicking a penalty and adding a converted try for a 20-6 lead, but this again led to a spirited Weaverham effort.

After good work fromthe returning Mike Pickering and Peter Taylor, Evans crossed for a converted try to reduce the deficit to eight points.

Andy Wood then halved this margin by going over for another try, and with their tails up Weaverham were sensing a late push for victory.

However, Bridge had the better of the late exchanges to add two further unconverted tries towards the end.

Rangers are again on their travels this weekend with a visit to Blackpool Stanley (2.30pm).