Halton 21, Marple 17: VICTORY over Marple was no mystery - it was down to hard work.

The game was a good forward battle in which Marple initially held the upper hand in the set-piece but Halton's forwards worked well in loose play.

Through good forward play by Housley and Dunne taking Halton forward, Parker broke to draw the full-back and put in the supporting Shaw to score with Mellor adding the extras.

Marple's pack then got some momentum and worked the ball down-field with strong drives. Soon enough they forced their way over for an unconverted try.

The hosts, in reply, were patient and worked their way up the pitch to get good field position.

From a well-taken line out, the forwards secured the ball and worked it through a number of phases.

Good passing by McIntosh, Shaw and Leadbetter saw Bibby score in the corner with Mellor landing an excellent conversion.

Marple came back at Halton, again through good forward work, and replied with a try wide - their number eight having broken well from a scrum to put the winger in, making the half-time score 14-10.

The second half was end to end with both sides working the ball well but defences held firm until the last quarter.

From a midfield scrum, Parker picked up at the base and raced 30 metres, through a number of would-be tacklers.

On approaching the full-back, he found support from Shingler who scored with Mellor converting from under the posts.

Once again, Marple applied forward pressure and they were awarded a pushover try which was converted.

From a kick through by Marple, full-back Leadbetter gathered inside the Halton 20-metre area and outpaced all opposition, drawing the winger and full-back before passing to the supporting Kelly.

The latter was racing over for a try when the referee blew up for disputed a forward pass.

The last 10 minutes were highly charged with the referee taking good control.

But a heavy tackle on the touch-line and indiscipline by players from both sides, saw a player sinbinned for the remainder.

Halton's assistant coach Evans said a hard-working display had earned Halton victory but was unhappy with the amount of unnecessary penalties conceded.

The deputy coach was also disappointed with 'the one or two play-ers' who were unhappy with team-selection and the way that they reacted.

'As we are a one-team club, people will miss out until we can build a player base to start a second XV on a regular basis,' he added.

This Saturday, Halton play a rearranged league game at Newton (ko 2.30pm).