Woolston Rovers 28 Clock Face Miners 10

MAL Holt hailed the “great character, determination and team spirit” of his Woolston Rovers side as they continued to surge into promotion contention.

Saturday’s victory allowed them to leapfrog opponents Clock Face Miners into fourth place in National Conference League Division Three, just one point behind Millom in third.

Justin Becker, Theo Holt, Ryan Brown and brothers Harry and Adam Files were on the scoresheet for Rovers at Monk Sports Club, with Will Chadwick adding five conversions.

The result was Woolston’s third win in a row as they continue to finish the season strongly.

Holt was particularly pleased with the performance of his forwards and also hailed the impact his side had off the interchange bench.

“I am delighted once again with the boys. It is yet another big win against a promotion rival,” he said.

“Similar to last week, the first half was an arm wrestle but we dominated the second half and fully deserved the victory.

“We showed once again that we have great character, determination and team spirit and that really shone through.

“Our pack was immense throughout and our interchanges also made a massive impact on the game when they were on.

“It is important that we have that quality to come on when the opposition begins to tire, as we don’t lose any of our go-forward.”

The visitors took the lead early through a Sean Costello try, but Rovers hit back quickly straight from the base of a scrum.

Becker received the ball and broke through the defence to score wide on the right.

The only other score of the first half came four minutes before the interval when Becker turned provider – slipping the ball back inside for Adam Files to twist through three defenders to cross between the posts.

Two minutes after the restart, Woolston moved further ahead as Harry Files finished off a lovely move involving Brown and Daniel Markham to score on the left.

Clock got themselves back into the game via a try from substitute Adam Johnson, but Holt scored the game’s stand-out try to all but seal victory.

After a pass went to ground from the visitors, Holt picked up the loose ball, chipped over the defence and regathered to race home from deep inside his own half.

Brown then put the icing on the cake when he finished off an Adam Files break to cross for the game’s final try.

Rovers’ next Division Three game sees them visit eighth-placed Dewsbury Celtic on Saturday, September 1.

Woolston: Will Chadwick; Karlton Bates, Justin Becker, Lewis Hoarty, Kieran Jones; Theo Holt, Billy Maunder; Jack Sherratt, Ryan Brown, Ryan Hickman, Dan Fearnley, Daniel Markham, Harry Files. Subs: Josh Sudlow, Danny Griffiths, Adam Files, John Welch.