Culcheth Eagles 24 Latchford Albion 18

EAGLES find themselves perched at the top of the North West Men’s League Division Two after a close victory over local rivals Latchford Albion on Saturday.

Culcheth kicked off and soon put the visitors on the back foot with early tries from Nathan Bell and Stu Johnson, both converted by James Wilde, before Wilde crossed for a score of his own.

Latchford replied with an unconverted try only for Stu Johnson to go the full length to take Eagles’ first-half tally up to 24 with the visitors finishing the half with 10.

Both teams played with 12 men for 10 minutes in the second half after the game boiled over before Albion added two unconverted tries narrowing the final deficit to six points.