Crosfields 21

Sowerby Bridge 11

A GUTSY second half display saw Crosfields win through in the BNFL National Cup.

Playing a side unbeaten at the top of the Pennine League first division seemed to unsettle Soap, who took a long time to start firing on Saturday.

It was the home side's greater will to win that finally got them on top.

Coach Bob Eccles said after: "It wasn't one of our better performances but we got there in the end.

"They came here with plenty of confidence but we stuck at the job and wore them down."

The visitors grabbed an early lead through a Dave Bidwell drop goal but Andy Holroyd hit back with a penalty kick soon after.

The first try came after quarter of an hour when Soap's Russ Mellor squeezed in from close after Gary Maddocks had set him up.

Both sides exhibited more industry than invention during the rest of the half with tempers running short between the two packs.

Sowerby's Paul Taylor then burst through and set up George Parkinson to run it in between the posts.

The game was finely balanced at 6-5 at the break but Eccles found the words to fire up his side for the second half.

Second rower Jacent Rabbitt was in a fiercesome mood, regularly needing three men to put him down as he crashed into the visitors' defence.

Soap put a warning shot across Sowerby's bows when Holroyd charged in at the corner, only for the referee to pull the play back for off side.

Maddocks and Steve Hickling combined to break through before they sent in Dean Reynolds to dive over after 50 minutes.

Just when it appeared the game had slipped away from them, Sowerby rallied. Darren Brown got on the end of a bomb and passed to giant second rower Taylor for a simple run-in.

It took Soap just three minutes to hit back as Hickling broke through and Jay Kiernan showed his pace before 17-year-old Jamie Stenhouse finished off the move.

A Kiernan drop goal put the home side further ahead and Dave Gibbons put the icing on the cake with a jinking run that put Maddocks through in the dying moments.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.