Beverley 22 Woolston Rovers 18

WOOLSTON Rovers pushed unbeaten league leaders Beverley all the way but just came out on the wrong side of the scoreline on Saturday.

Rovers travelled with just 16 players and lost two to injury during the game against the National Conference League Division Three pace-setters, who are coached by Hull FC and England prop Scott Taylor.

However, Mal Holt’s side may rue a 10-minute period in which the hosts had a man in the sin-bin but still managed to add two tries to their total.

“I was disappointed with the final score but not the performance,” head coach Holt said.

“The weather again was hot and sticky and with only travelling with 16 and then losing two players through injury, the odds were always against us.

“The lads just knuckled down and got on with the job and nearly got the rewards that their efforts deserved.

“Beverley are a quality side and for us to go toe-to-toe with them for the full 80 minutes was very pleasing.”

After Lewis Poskitt opened the scoring for Beverley, Rovers hit back when Cameron Davies slipped the ball to Harry Files, who squeezed through a gap to score.

However, home substitute Louis Hubbard was sin-binned for a shoulder charge on the stroke of half-time and Will Chadwick slotted over the resulting penalty to give the visitors a two-point lead at the break.

Despite their one-man disadvantage, Beverley were still able to score twice in the opening 10 minutes of the second half through Poskitt and Sam Brown.

Rovers were up against it, but gave themselves a chance when Daniel Markham laid a platform for Josh Sudlow to force himself over.

The hosts looked to have made the game safe when Tom Moor raced home, but Davies caught and grounded Sudlow’s kick to set up a grandstand finish.

However, Beverley held on to secure a hard-fought victory.

Woolston: Theo Holt; Alex Dunne, Justin Becker, Wil Maudsley, Will Chadwick; Aaron Barber, Conner Muir; Jack Sherratt, Harry Files, Max Ainsworth, Josh Sudlow, Dan Fearnley, Daniel Markham. Subs: Cameron Davies, Shaun Yoxall, Isaac Lythgoe.

Woolston Rovers A 58 Chester Gladiators 14

A BLITZ of 42 unanswered points allowed Woolston Rovers A to power through to the next round of the NWML Cup on Saturday.

The game was close as Rovers lead 16-14 towards the end of the first half, but Andy Penny’s side pulled away to establish a dominant scoreline.

Callum Moore and Mike Ward scored in either half, while Christian Taylor, Tom Gaskell and Sean Callendar joined them on the scoresheet before the break.

Tom Woodward, Niall Toher and Todd Preston crossed after the interval as Rovers scored 10 tries in all, with Jake Eccles converting all but one of them.

“I thought we played some really good rugby, especially in the second half,” Penny said.

“Once we started to respect the ball properly, we took control and scored some very good tries.”

Woolston A: Christian Taylor; Lewis Melia, Danny Griffiths, Karlton Bates, Sean Millington; Olly Hands, Jake Eccles; Tom Woodward, Callum Moore, Niall Toher, Olly Parr, Mike Ward, Nathan Evans. Subs: Ben Dixon, Tom Gaskell, Todd Preston, Sean Callender.