Liverpool St Helens 26 Bedford Athletic 20

MOSS Lane is not a place for the faint-hearted these days. Saturday produced another competent peformance from this progressive young Liverpool St Helens who completely bossed the game for the 30 minutes either side of half-time only to allow the visitors back into the game to provide a pulsating finale.

Bedford Athletic got the better of the early exchanges when flanker Leo Pereira scored from close range, converted by Ashley Tapper.

Seven points down after just six minutes, LSH produced their now-familiar brand of adventurous rugby and delivered two excellent tries. The first after 15 minutes came from midfield when Steve Cook sent a crash ball to Sean Casey, who powered through from 35 yards.

The second came after 22 minutes in similar fashion. Full-back Mike Jones produced a perfectly-timed run to join the back line for Simon Worsley to pick him out enabling the John Moores student to race home, also from 35 yards. Both tries were converted by Worsley to give LSH a 14-7 lead.

The home side stayed in command for the remainder of a first half littered with penalties awarded by the referee in all areas of the game. Athletic translated two of theirs into points and one kickable penalty to LSH was slotted home by Worsley, giving a half-time score of 17-13.

Immediately after the restart Worsley added another penalty and then added two more three-pointers to establish a 26-13 scoreline.

With eight minutes to go Athletic picked up the tempo when full-back Tapper produced a burst of pace to break through the LSH defence for a try which he also converted. At 26-20 this produced a grandstand finish from both sides and at the final whistle a relieved Moss Lane crowd applauded another encouraging performance and result.

A relieved, but satisfied Eric Hughes said after the game: "We had 80 per cent of the game and should have finished them off midway through the second half. This was a four-pointer today and the win keeps us climbing up the table."

LSH have an excellent chance to continue their good run at Walsall on Saturday.

LSH 3rd XV 19 Waterloo XV 32

This was an excellent game, hard-fought on both sides. Mark Wright, Mark Richards and Charlie Edwards all crossed the line for LSH, but Waterloo had too much firepower with Paul Ashcroft and Peter Buckton among the try scorers.