West Hartlepool 16, Cleckheaton 22

Cleckheaton’s first away trip of the year yesterday was a must-win game if they were to stay in touch with Rochdale and have an outside chance of remaining in National League Three North, and they came away with four hard-earned points thanks to tries by Lance Hamilton, Tom Lauriston and Joe Massarella.

Things didn’t start well for Cleckheaton, however, when West were given a penalty after two minutes which Paul Moss converted.

Cleckheaton took time to settle into their game but in the 13th minute, after some good forward play, Hamilton broke three tackles to go in at the corner for a try, Ross Hayden’s kick just going wide.

Moss put West back in front in the 16th minute and Hayden had two missed chances to put Cleckheaton in control.

In the 18th and 20th minutes, West pulled further in front, and on 23 minutes, after some poor tackles, let in Tom Dixon for an easy try, Moss’ kick going wide.

On the half-hour, Cleckheaton began to show signs of more encouraging forward play but just lacked that finish.

But in the 34th minute the break came. The pack took play into West's 22 and the ball went to Matt Piper, who in turn passed out to Lauriston for his try, Pete Murphy's conversion putting Cleckheaton in front.

They had the chance to extend their lead on 40 minutes with a run from Hayden that sent Lauriston to the line, only for him to be held up.

At the start of the second half, Cleckheaton’s line was under pressure but after three five-metre scrums they managed to weather the storm and clear their lines by pushing West back to halfway.

In the 55th minute, loanee Iain Gordon came on for the injured Mitch Ashworth, who had had a good game up to this point.

Five minutes later, Gordon kicked a penalty to give Cleckheaton a four-point cushion, and in the 70th minute they made some hard work pay off when Carl Mason broke free of the pack to get the ball to Massarella, who, in turn, slipped three tackles to run in what is so far their best try of the season, Gordon converting an easy kick.

West replied minutes later with a try from Jamie Connolly and, even though Gordon missed a long penalty kick and Cleckheaton were under pressure in the final ten minutes of the game, they held out to record their first away win since Darlington last season.