Rochdale 19, Cleckheaton 13

In this battle of two teams striving to extricate themselves from the National League Three North relegation zone yesterday, Rochdale came out on top despite conceding territory and possession for the majority of the match.

In diminutive fly half Steve Collins, Rochdale had a playmaker who could dictate the direction of play despite limited ball, and it was fitting that he was ultimately the scorer of the winning points in the final minute.

Cleckheaton had sufficient ball to win the game, and in the first half created several overlap situations which were either called back for forward passes or the covering defence held firm.

Three penalty successes for Rochdale marksman Steve Pitcher kept the scoreline close at half-time.

Five minutes into the second half, Ross Hayden opened Cleckheaton's account with a penalty, and ten minutes later the visitors finally converted pressure into points when player-coach Peter Murphy drove over from short range after a move on the 22 by the forwards had created confusion in the Rochdale defence.

Hayden converted and, in the 70th minute, added another penalty to widen the lead to four points.

Within a minute, Pitcher had reduced the margin to one point with another penalty success and the home side threw everything at Cleckheaton in the last five minutes, a dropped goal attempt from Steve Collins dropping short before he broke Cleckheaton hearts by scything through a beleagured defence to score the winning try, which was converted by Pitcher.