Crosfields 34 Thornhill Trojans 26

CROSFIELDS battled back from 22-6 down to earn a memorable victory over fellow high-flyers Thornhill at Hood Lane on Saturday.

After a nightmare first half in which Billy Sheen’s try was their only score, Soap roared back to return to the top of National Conference League Division Two.

Tom Millington, Chris Burgess, Dave Boden, Nathan Taylor and Keiron Thomas all crossed after the break, while Jack Reid added five conversions to give Mark Brennan’s side their fifth win from six games in 2017.

Anthony Harris crashed over to give Thornhill an early lead, with George Woodcock adding the conversion and he did the same when Wayne Wilson crossed just before the half-hour mark.

Woodcock got a try of his own out wide to give the visitors a 16-0 lead, but Crosfields got on the board shortly after.

An enterprising chip by Sheen was collected by John Whittaker, who drew the full-back and found scrum-half Sheen back in support to cross between the posts.

Soap still trailed by 10 points at the interval and Thornhill extended that advantage just after the break when Liam Morley crossed.

However, Reid’s guile created a try for Millington as the young forward won the race to a deceptive grubber kick from the Soap skipper.

Then came the turning point as Thornhill’s Jake Wilson was sin-binned for dissent and the visiting defence began to wane, with Burgess crashing over from Reid’s short ball to reduce the deficit to just four points.

Five minutes later, Soap hit the front as Boden side-stepped the tiring defence to touch down before Sheen’s kick to the corner was claimed brilliantly by Taylor to extend the lead.

Wilson returned for the field, but not for long as he was yellow-carded again for repeat offending and Reid’s 40-20 set up position for Chris Hull to put Thomas over.

Thornhill had the last laugh with a late try, but it was a day for Soap to savour.

Brennan’s side travel to Askam in their next game on Saturday, April 22, kick off 2.30pm.

Crosfields: John Whittaker; Dan Reid, Chris Burgess, Chris Hull, Keiron Thomas; Jack Reid, Billy Sheen; Phil Brazendale, Hayden James, Dave Boden, Lewis Bani, Joe Moore, Joe Clarke. Subs: Jordan Ansell, Tom Brown, Tom Millington, Nathan Taylor.