Amateur Rugby League: West Bowling showed how important a strong squad is as they continued their good start to the season in the Pennine Premier Division with a 36-6 win against Worth Village.
But Clayton again struggled to find the dominant form that made them such a formidable outfit last season and went down 18-14 at home to Elland.
West Bowling suffered an early setback in their home game with Worth Village when they conceded an early converted try, but after Glenn Barraclough crossed the line to be quickly followed by veteran Terry Poole, Bowling never looked in any real danger.
A conversion and a penalty goal by Jason Woolham eased the home side into a 12-6 lead which was further extended when prop forward Lee Hutchinson crashed over for the first of his two tries. A second Woolham conversion made the half time score 18-6.
In the second half Bowling took complete control and it was no surprise when utility player Simon Owen crossed the whitewash, the try again being successfully converted by Woolham.
Young centre Matthew Whittaker has proved to be an inspired selection so far this season and he capped another fine display with a try that just about sealed Bowling's victory.
However, it was Hutchinson again who completed Village's miserable visit to Bankfoot with a storming 30-yard run to score the try of the match ten minutes from time. Woolham again completed the conversion to leave him with a six from seven goal tally and and make the final score of 36-6.
Queensbury had no difficulty against newly promoted Sowerby Bridge Robins, winning 42-4 in a more than convincing home win. The Robins tried hard to defend against constant attacks from 'Bury and would have been happy to go in at half time only 16-4 down.
However 'Bury came out in the second half just as determined and their superior firepower proved far too much for the Robins. With Trevor Stead and Andrew Senior in superb form and Lee Charlton and Stephen Ayles topping the try list with two apiece, Bury coasted to victory.
Further tries to Danny Wilcock, Nathan Varley, Carl Smith and Mark Gay served to underline Queensbury's dominance of the game and Stephen Gallagher was again on good form with the boot landing five goals.
Undercliffe went down at home 44-4 to form team Park Amateurs and West Bowling A also suffered a heavy 42-14 defeat at Rotherham. Despite the unavailability of a number of players Bowling began brightly enough with Carl Sutcliffe and young prop forward Ryan Honkin scoring first half tries to give Bowling to a deserved 14-8 lead at the break.
But a bigger and more powerful Rotherham pack finally got a grip of the game in the second half and put it beyond Bowling's reach. Bowling's other points came from three Simon Armitage goals.
Shipley will count themselves unlucky following their 20-10 defeat at home to Lindley Swifts. The controversial award of a try from a clear forward pass to Swifts and three disallowed Shipley tries, two for allegedly dropping of the ball over the line, proved the deciding factors.
Shipley battled hard to take the points, but it wasn't to be their day and tries by Mick McCarthy and Mick Carnelly, as well as a Steve Ellison goal, were not enough to secure victory against a strong Lindley side.
Queensbury A posted an impressive 32-16 win at Siddal B. Siddal, who always field strong sides, were still no match for 'Bury and although the game was evenly balanced 10-9 at half time 'Bury took charge to run out worthy winners.
Shaun Fallon was again in outstanding form and crossed twice and kicked four goals, and with tries from Paul Skelton (2), Rick Whitworth and Jason Hargreaves, 'Bury completed a successful afternoon's work.
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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