Strugglers push Cleck all the way

Liverpool St Helens belied their lowly position to make it tough for Cleck.

The visitors were immediately on the back foot as Liverpool's captain and no 8 forced his way over the whitewash after six minutes but the conversion was missed.

This was the wake-up call Cleck needed and they used their speedy three quarters with good effect to stretch the home side's defence.

Inevitably, the pressure resulted in a penalty and stand-off Owen Edwards got on the scoresheet to reduce the deficit to two points.

The hosts were reduced to long kicks out of defence, which were meat and drink to Cleck's young full back Ross Hayden, who ran everything back at them, beating at least two or three would-be tacklers every time.

On the half-hour, Cleck finally went into the lead when centre Tom Lauriston latched on to a pop-pass from Edwards and bounced off three defenders to score under the posts. Edwards added the conversion to put the visitors 10-5 up.

The start of the second half was a mirror image to the first, with Liverpool all over a strangely lacklustre Cleck.

They endured a 20-minute period without the ball but it said a lot for Cleck's discipline that the hosts were only able to register a penalty and a drop goal from Simon Worsley.

Both sides became frustrated by the match official's inability to police the ruck area and there was a free-for-all with 15 minutes left but nobody received their marching orders.

With ten minutes to go, Cleck scored a penalty and then preceded to pressurise Liverpool. A pick-and-drive move saw Mark Chivers claim the winning touchdown, Edwards adding the goal from wide out.