Undercliffe Wildboars 30, Dearne Valley Bulldogs 28

Danny Dixon starred with a hat-trick as Undercliffe maintained their Pennine League Division Four title push thanks to a last-gasp try that enabled them to edge out Dearne Valley Bulldogs.

The second-placed Wildboars displayed real character and determination to hit back from a terrible start that saw Dearne Valley post three tries without reply in the opening quarter.

The South Yorkshire visitors made light of their lowly position third from bottom in the table as their large pack took the game to Undercliffe and were on the scoreboard after just four minutes.

Karl Klaytow made the break, offloaded to Jason Eagle and he dived under the posts, with Klaytow adding the extras to put his side 6-0 up.

Minutes later the visitors were over the whitewash again when stand-off Chris Chapman pounced on a loose ball following an up-and-under. Klaytow added the simple conversion and a shock result looked on the cards.

When prop Dan Cribbis crashed over to extend the Dearne Valley lead further, Undercliffe coach Richard Cousins must have wondered how they were going to turn things around.

The answer came from Cousins’ decision to introduce winger Dixon to the fray as he registered three tries inside ten minutes.

Dixon’s first came after a mazy crossfield run from Paul Cross and was followed by a fine finish as a result of stand-off Ryan Dixon’s high ball.

The hat-trick was completed when a superb long ball from Ryan Dixon found his namesake out wide, allowing him to neatly side-step his way to the whitewash.

A try from full back Carl McGuigan and a further effort by Ryan Dixon, who showed strength and power to outpace a number of would-be tacklers, saw Undercliffe establish a 24-18 lead going into the break.

The second half proved a scrappy affair as both sides felt the tension of a closely-fought contest.

Dearne Valley took the initiative when first Mick Marshall picked up a loose Wildboars pass to dive over and then a fine move allowed Daz Williams to touch down.

The conversion from Chapman gave the visitors a slender 24-28 lead with just ten minutes remaining.

Undercliffe rallied and piled on the pressure as the Bulldogs looked to hold on.

Ryan Dixon looked to have won it for the home side when he forced his way over only to be held up.

But with just minutes left, loose forward Cross spotted a gap and crashed over before stepping up to send the game-winning kick sailing high over the posts.