Drighlington 12 Crosfields 35

CROSFIELDS boss Mark Brennan praised the impact of his younger players in Saturday’s victory at Drighlington.

The match was level at 12-12 when a serious injury to a Drighlington player forced the game to be stopped for more than an hour.

It was Soap who emerged the stronger and secured the win thanks to two tries each from Hayden James and Nathan Taylor after John Whittaker and Joe Moore had crossed earlier.

Soap remain top of National Conference League Division Two, but Brennan says “week-on-week improvement” was the team’s focus.

“The younger players really showed up this week. Tom Millington and Tom Brown in the middle are working well with the old guard of Matt Barber and Phil Brazendale,” he said.

“Hayden James at 9 was again impressive with another man-of-the-match performance.

“It was also good to see John Whittaker taking the line on more at 7 and causing a few problems for defences.

“We will again have a big focus this week on tightening a few areas up in both attack and defence.

“All we want is week on week improvement.”

After falling behind early, Whittaker responded with an excellent solo try, rounding four defenders to score and Jack Reid’s conversion levelled matters.

Moore continued his fine scoring form by muscling over, but a try on the stroke of half time ensured the hosts went into the break on level terms.

The injury break naturally stifled momentum, but Soap struck shortly after the restart when James burrowed over after Millington, Brown and Joe Clarke had set up position.

Chris Hull then sent Taylor over in the corner to give the visitors a two-score lead with 10 minutes left before the full-back scored his second shortly after Reid had kicked a drop-goal.

James raced home from 40 metres for his second to seal the victory with the final play of the game, with Reid narrowly missing out on a perfect game with the boot as his conversion attempt struck the post.

Soap are back in action on Saturday when they travel to Saddleworth Rangers, kick off 2.30pm.

Crosfields: Nathan Taylor; Keiron Thomas, Chris Burgess, Chris Hull, Dan Reid; Jack Reid, John Whittaker; Tom Brown, Hayden James, Phil Brazendale, Lewis Bani, Joe Moore, Joe Clarke. Subs: Matt Barber, Tom Millington, Chris Dean, Jordan Chilton.