Rossendale 25, Bees 6 The Bees ended their campaign with another defeat as Martin Whitcombe’s men finished short of their stated ambition to bounce back into a higher division at the first time of asking.

There can be few complaints from the Bees camp as they were clearly second best for much of this entertaining encounter as Rossendale leapfrogged their rivals.

With Rossendale scrum half Jamie Albinson constantly in the referee’s ear, a string of free-kicks turned the ball into the home side’s hands.

Albinson always looked dangerous with the ball in hand and he had his men on the front foot with his incisive breaks and clever kicks.

Rossendale only crossed the line twice on ten and 63 minutes as speedy left winger Anthony Bingham zipped through the Bees defence.

The visitors threatened to break through themselves on numerous occasions but some poor handling at crucial moments always turned a promising move into Rossendale possession.