Crosfields 46 Rylands Sharks 22.

CROSFIELDS won the Warrington bragging rights as they had a man-of-the-match performance from skipper Jack Reid to thank for recording their tenth win in a row at Hood Lane on Wednesday evening.

Stand-off Reid scored two tries and kicked seven goals in a virtuoso performance as Tony Benson’s men, for whom Billy Sheen and Nathan Taylor also crossed twice, stretched their lead at the top of the National Conference League Division Three to seven points.

However, the game was in the balance for some time and it was Rylands, still smarting from their hammering by Drighlington last weekend, who took the lead when Tyler Whittaker crossed between the posts after a fantastic Nick Braide offload.

Sheen levelled the scores after pouncing on Reid’s kick through for his eighth try in the last four games before Reid got his first of the evening midway through the first half to give Soap the lead for the first time.

Braide then brushed off four would-be tacklers to cross in the corner and bring Rylands back to within two points before Gavin Conroy’s ensured they retook the lead.

The pendulum swung back in favour of the hosts before the break as Reid doubled his tally with a superb individual try off the back of good build-up from Phil Brazendale and Matty Barber to give Soap an 18-16 half-time lead.

The visitors started the second period strongly and Chris Dean exploited some poor Crosfields defence to give Rylands the lead again, but this was to be the last time they troubled to scorers as Soap shifted up a gear.

Taylor scored in the corner after a wonderful Chris Burgess offload, with Reid adding a wonderful touchline conversion before Sheen burrowed over from close range following a great Burgess break to give Crosfields an element of control.

Barber then crashed over before Taylor latched onto Sheen’s perfectly-weighted chip to extend the lead to 20 points and effectively put the game beyond the visitors.

Matt Mahoney wrapped up the scoring by latching onto Reid’s chip in the final play of the game to ensure a big win for Soap, who now don’t play until their meeting with Drighlington on July 2.

Crosfields: Ash Cornelia; Nathan Taylor, Chris Burgess, Ian Boden, Keiron Thomas; Jack Reid, Billy Sheen; Phil Brazendale, Joe Clarke, John Pickersgill, David Boden, Matt Mahoney, Joe Moore. Subs: Matty Barber, James Rookes, Lewis Bani, Jordan Ansell.

Rylands: Luke Walker; Adam Thompson, Tyler Whittaker, Gavin Conroy, Luke Gillooly; Jack Lewis, Anthony Doyle; Chris Morley, Sean Boyle, Chris Dean, Daniel Woods, Nick Braide, Craig Harris. Subs: David Walker, Mitchell McJay, Bradley McAlpine, Andrew Unsworth.