Prenton 17 Moore 34

THE new year followed a similar vein for Moore as they extended their winning run in their return to action.

Despite being reduced to 13 men at one stage during the second half, they admirably held fellow promotion contenders Prenton at bay.

Max Holland – one of two Moore men to be yellow-carded – was among the tryscorers as they kept up the pressure on the second teams of Anselmians and Manchester, who are the leading pair in Division Three South of the North West Intermediate Leagues.

Jack Harvey crossed for a brace, with Henry Frankling and Sam Craven also scoring tries for Moore.

With both sides attempting to shake the four-week break from their systems, the early exchanges were dominated by errors before Matt Bradshaw kicked Moore ahead with a penalty.

From that point, the Moss Lane men looked more dangerous as Harvey attacked the line with gusto to score the game’s first try.

Some excellent kicking pinned Prenton back and after a penalty for a high tackle, Holland used the space well to extend Moore’s lead to 17-0.

The hosts got their act together and a string of penalties eventually led to them crossing on the stroke of half time.

Prenton scored 42 points in the second half of the reverse fixture – something the Black and Golds were evidently keen to avoid a repeat of.

Their centres created an overlap for Frankling to exploit as he ran in to score from over halfway.

Indiscipline then started to kick in as first Holland and then Tony Fretwell were sin-binned, with Prenton taking advantage to score two tries.

That reduced the lead to just five points, but Moore rallied successfully to keep the hosts out before taking control again.

Harvey crashed over for his second score before Craven touched down Holland’s grubber kick to seal another impressive victory.

Moore remain third in the table, but trail second-place Manchester by just three points.

The Black and Golds are on the road again on Saturday as they travel to Carrington, who sit ninth in the table.