CLECKHEATON’S rollercoaster season hit an emphatic upturn as they ran in nine tries against bottom-of-the-table Bradford & Bingley in North One East at Wagon Lane to win 55-14.

The victory lifted the visitors up one place to fifth as they continued their push for promotion, but that must be balanced against defeats to the current top four.

After taking the lead inside a minute, Cleckheaton were 26-14 up at the interval.

And they won the second half 29-0 against hosts whose right-edge defence was exploited with ease.

“It has been hit and miss,” confessed Cleckheaton skipper Richard Piper.

“We haven’t got that consistency, especially in games where we start well but then let teams back in.

“But after a positive performance here, where we didn’t let them in in the second half, this was what we were aiming for.

“That (inconsistency) is a mental thing. We make a big start and then ease off, but you cannot do that in this division as teams will come back at you. They are always going to have moments.”

Piper admitted: “We needed that result but we needed that performance as well and we got it.

“We had a few targets, like discipline, and at times we were off that, but also to get points on the board and not let them back into it.

“Dale Breakwell got us off to a great start with that crosskick for James Marshall’s try, but we backed that up well with the set-piece and we kept going towards the end.”

That first try must have had the Bees fearing the worst after eight straight defeats, as that was followed by a well-timed inside pass by left winger Mikey Hayward to put centre Dominic Brambani over for the visitors, but the next four tries were shared to give the Bees hope for the second half.

No.8 Masiu Akuola plunged over for the home side, before Marshall’s second try and flanker Jack Seddon’s first were followed by a try by Bees lock Harvey Kemp after Cleckheaton’s hooker Archie Rika-Rayne had been sin-binned.

A 12-point deficit at half-time for the Bees soon became an unfulfilled quest for a four-try bonus point as the match drifted away from them in the second half,

Scrum half Ollie Depledge, Hayward, Marshall, Tom Flanagan and Joe Flanagan added second-half tries, with Breakwell landing two conversions to add to his three from the first half.

Fly half Ben Hockenhull kicked Bradford & Bingley’s sole conversion.

Rock-bottom Bradford Salem suffered yet another defeat in Yorkshire One, going down 40-5 at Dinnington.

Keighley stayed top of Yorkshire Two after thumping Old Grovians 31-3, while Baildon enjoyed a gripping 17-14 victory at Ripon.

In Yorkshire Three, Wibsey picked up just their third win of the season when they beat West Park Leeds 16-3.