CROSFIELDS took a huge step towards National Conference League Division One survival with a 26-12 home win against fellow strugglers Pilkington Recs.

Victory in the tense encounter put Soap three points clear of the bottom two with a game in hand.

Tries from John Whittaker, Jack Fox, Luke Walker, man-of-the-match Tom Brown and Daniel Cassidy, who also landed three conversions, got the job done after Ince had taken an initial lead.

Crosfields could further help their cause if they can pull off back-to-back wins when they head to Ince Rose Bridge on Friday, kick-off 7.30pm.

Ince are currently one point and one place above Soap on the ladder.

Woolston Rovers made it back-to-back victories with a hard-fought 24-16 success at Milford in National Conference League Division Two.

After falling behind in the 10th minute, Rovers responded with three tries in thirteen minutes courtesy of Scott Whiteley, Alex Pendlebury and Joe Craven.

That gave them an 18-4 interval advantage although Rovers did end the half with 11 men as substitute Blake Turner was sin binned for a dangerous tackle and then hooker Scott Whiteley received a yellow card for delaying a restart.

Milford took advantage with their second try two minutes into the second period but the game was put to bed with Ryan Palin’s 55th-minute score.

Dec Leonard kicked four goals.

Rovers head coach Billy Sheen said: “The conditions were not the best so it made the game a bit of a leveller.

“Once we got over for our first try we seemed to click into gear and played some great rugby.

“Our defence was brilliant and we really slowed down their big mobile pack.

“Our enthusiasm was the best it has been for a while and they couldn’t live with us at times.

“We did still have spells where they got on top of us but it was due to us dropping our intensity and we cannot afford to do that if we want to compete at the top.

“They got back into the game a little when we were temporarily reduced to 11 men but we were always in control and never really felt threatened.

“It was a very good performance from the boys; a lot of them had to play out of position and a few stepped up from our NWML side so I was really proud of them all.”

Rovers: Joe Roper; Alex Pendlebury, Cameron Davies, Tom Byrne, James Tarpey; Ben Dixon, Dec Leonard; Ryan Palin, Scott Whiteley, Ben Crewe, Joe Craven, Dan Fearnley, Harry Files. Subs: Blake Turner, Sean Boyle, Karlton Bates, Billy Sheen.

Latchford Albion returned to winning ways 20-10 at home to Heysham Atoms following a solid second-half performance against a tough Heysham outfit.

The hosts started strongly and opened the scoring on 10 minutes.

Rob Marsh’s kick on the last tackle was not dealt with by the visitors and he followed up to pounce on the loose ball to score, also adding the conversion.

Heysham hit back with an unconverted try when they ran the ball on the last tackle and found space out wide to cross.

Latchford had hooker Charlie Groarke sin-binned for dissent, and the visitors took advantage of the extra man to score again, the conversion putting them 10-6 ahead at the break.

Albion regained the lead on 45 minutes.

Matty Ellis’ well weighted kick was touched down by Josh Barnard by the posts, Marsh converting.

Shortly after, a torrential downpour meant that free-flowing rugby was not a possibility but the hosts adapted to the conditions the better.

Marsh slid a kick through on the hour mark which the visitors could not deal with and Craig Purnell was the first to touch down the loose ball.

Albion put the game out of reach on 70 minutes when Purnell crossed for his second try, again benefiting from Marsh’s vision and accuracy with the boot.

Albion have a free weekend before a midweek away trip to Blackbrook on Thursday, July 20, kick off 7.30pm.