Ulverston 25 Pilkington Recs 10 RECS returned to action with their first game in almost two months and despite plenty of effort they were clearly ring rusty in this defeat.

It looked promising early on as they took the lead after just four minutes when scrum-half Alan Fletcher put in a cross-field kick which hung in the wind, was fumbled and second-row John Rees just beat winger Dave Archer to touch down.

But handling errors were to prove costly for the visitors as all of the home scores in the first half came from ball spillage. Two identical tries in ten minutes, through naive defending, must have infuriated the Recs coaching staff. Both came from simple drives over the line from dummy half, both were converted and suddenly Recs were eight points in arrears.

Try as they might Recs were able to make little impression on a resolute home defence, although forwards Ian Connolly, Keiran Lacey and Neil Morris worked tirelessly.

Worse was to come when a towering bomb swirled in the wind, was spilled and gifted another four points to Ulverston. This was followed soon after by a penalty goal which saw Recs trailing 18-4 at the break.

Recs tried hard in the second half and for long periods laid siege on the home line, with the homesters being forced to drop out from their posts on numerous occasions. However, their defence, somehow, held firm.

On 25 minutes Recs saw a ray of hope when the ball, for once, was moved out wide and centre Darren Haigh fed wingman Archer who dived in to score at the corner. Mark Forber hit a massive touchline conversion.

Pepped up by substitutes Graham Cranney, Andy Fairhurst and debutant Graham Hardman, Recs pressed forward and were unlucky not to score again when centre Andy Traverse, back after a long lay-off through injury, could not hold a final pass with the line at his mercy.

But against the run of play in the final stages the homesters crossed for a further converted try and added a drop goal to rub salt into the visitors' wounds.

In a hard-working display, the St Helens Roofing man-of-the-match was Keiran Lacey, the Mike Wilson, Painter and Decorators players award went to second-rower Neil Morris who ran well and there were good contributions also from John Rees, Cranney, Connolly and Hardman.

Hindley u/14s 10 Pilks 10

Pilks struggled against a physical Hindley team in heavy conditions.

Poor tackling allowed Hindley to open the scoring in the first minute, but Pilks fought back to take the lead in the second half only for silly mistakes to let the home side in for the equalising score late in the game.

Pilks' tries were scored by R. Burkhill and G. Pinder, with R. Griffiths kicking a

penalty. Pilks u/13's 46 Haydock 6

After a slow start Pilks took control of this game with some fine team and individual tries.

Pilks' try scorers were James Campbell, Danny Colquitt (2), Andrew Edgerton (2), Dave Lowe (2), Ste McBride and Mark Wimpenny, with Campbell and Rogers adding the conversions.

Man-of-the-match was Andrew Edgerton and excellent creative play earned Ste Houghton the coach's award. Ste McBride topped the tackle count and Chris Key returned to form to earn the most improved player award. Many thanks to team sponsors, Glaxo Wellcome.

Pilks u/12s 30 Royton Tigers 0

Pilks made light of swamp-like conditions and turned in an impressive display of passing and handling.

In an excellent team effort Recs were best served by Martin Hutton and Andy Bacon, who shared the man-of-the-match trophy, top tackler Dave Mason and coach's award winners Greg Smith and Danny Halsall.

Try scorers for Pilks were Karl Foster, Luke Smith, Simon Penketh, Danny Halsall and Greg Smith who also landed five goals.

Also worthy of mention were Daryl Craine, Phil Henry and Mark Briody.

Ince St William 32 Pilks A u/11s 28

After a slow start which saw them trailing by 18-0, Pilks showed good character to fight back before veventually going down by just four points.

The Pilks' tries were scored by M. Owen, A. Bushell (2) and T. Connick (2).

Performer of the week went to D. Travis and J. Gill, coach's award went to L. Riley and M. Owen, top tackler was M. Cottom and man-of-the-match went to T. Connick and A. Bushell. Match awards sponsored by Corus Building Systems and Co-op Late Shop.

Parkside Golborne u/10s 16 Pilks 18

In a superb game of junior rugby league, Pilks produced a strong all-round team performance to just edge out a strong Parkside team.

Pilks' defence was excellent and good attacking play saw points come from

man-of-the-match Ryan Hilliard (try), coach's award-winner Mark Hamon (2 tries and a goal), Owain Griffiths (goal) and David Saunders (goal). Top tackler was Liam Critchley.

Pilks u/9s 4 Haydock 4

Defences were on top in this a game played in heavy conditions.

Man-of-the-match David Knapper scored Pilks' try and he was well supported by coach's award winner Mike Wright. Sam Smith was top tackler, assisted by James Axon, Liam Hill and Steven Ellison, with Chris Lee most improved.

Pilks u/8s 30 Portico Panthers 46

This was a below-par performance from Pilks against a very strong and well-organised Portico Panthers team.

Pilks' try scorers were man-of-the-match Andrew Frazer (3), most improved L. Joyce, unsung hero Thomas O'Neale and coach's award winner Rhys Williams. Good defensive displays from top tackler M. Goreman and John Reid couldn't prevent Portico from scoring three tries late in the second half to run out worthy winners.