Warrington 34 Eccles 22

WARRINGTON repelled a second half fightback from the North One West’s bottom club Eccles on Saturday as they secured a bonus-point victory.

Max Caldwell ran in a hat-trick of tries as Andy Roberts’ side found the perfect response to a 48-0 loss to league leaders Kirkby Lonsdale last time.

Tom Arnold ran in two tries, while Danny Fleming also touched down and Luke Gilooly added three conversions at Walton Lea Road.

Facing a side who had won just once all season, the hosts flew out of the traps and Tom Wood’s long pass sent Caldwell over for his first try.

The visitors responded with a penalty before a converted try gave them a 10-5 lead.

However, that only served to kickstart Warrington’s performance as Arnold crossed following another long pass to edge them back ahead.

With the backs performing strongly, It was then the forwards’ turn to shine as a superb driving maul led to Fleming claiming a try.

On the stroke of half time, sustained phases of possession and quick ball led to Caldwell scooting over to double his tally.

Caldwell’s hat-trick was completed just after the interval when he beat several defenders to score a superb individual try between the posts.

That, however, seemed to be the catalyst for an Eccles revival and they added two tries to cut Warrington’s lead to just seven points.

Arnold eased any nerves by latching onto Wood’s pass to complete the scoring.

Warrington, who sit eighth in the table, do not play this weekend and are next in action at Altrincham Kersal on Saturday, February 11, kick off 2.15pm.

Rossendale 2nd 13 Warrington 2nd 8

WARRINGTON could not follow up last week's convincing win over Rossendale as their much-changed side succumbed to a narrow loss to the same opponents.

After the more physical hosts had taken the lead through an unconverted try and a penalty, Warrington responded when captain Shaun Yoxhall won the ball from a lineout and the backs used the possession well to send Ben Dixon over.

The hosts grabbed their second try after the break after relentless pressure and it proved decisive despite Ben Hockenhull’s penalty.