Woolston Rovers 28 Waterhead Warriors 20

DESPITE being reduced to 11 men at one stage, Woolston Rovers made it three wins from their past four National Conference League Division Three matches on Saturday.

Having had Ryan Brown sent off for dissent just before the break, the hosts then lost Daniel Markham to the sin bin in the second half.

Despite that, they emerged victorious thanks to tries from Brown, Justin Becker, Alex Dunne and two from Harry Files.

“That was a very hard fought win where the players showed great determination and character,” interim head coach Mal Holt said.

“At times we were our own worst enemy, but I also we felt we were harshly treated a few times.

“The boys are really enjoying themselves at present and that is showing out on the field.”

Waterhead opened the scoring through a penalty and an unconverted try before Brown’s quick-tap penalty allowed him to put Becker over on the right.

Brown then backed up Markham’s break to put Woolston ahead, but he went from hero to villain on the stroke of half time.

After a further try and a penalty had put the visitors 14-10 up, Brown’s yellow card was changed to red due to dissent while leaving the field.

However, the 12 men hit the front just after the break when Files burrowed over from dummy-half.

After Waterhead had regained the initiative, another dummy-half effort from Files put Woolston 22-20 up before Markham was yellow-carded for a professional foul.

Rovers controlled that period superbly, however, and added to their lead when Waterhead spilled Files’ chip over the line and Dunne pounced to score.

Debutant Dec Leonard then added a penalty late on to seal a dramatic victory for the hosts.

Woolston: Theo Holt; Alex Dunne, Justin Becker, Dan Fearnley, Christian Taylor; Aaron Barber, Conner Muir; Jack Sherratt, Ryan Brown, Max Ainsworth, Josh Sudlow, Daniel Markham, Harry Files. Subs: Dec Leonard, Niall Toher, Sean Yoxall.