Rugby League: Mayfield 28 - 18 Leigh Miners

Photo: Ian Nield

Joe Schofield, Mayfield

Mayfield's North West Counties side picked up another valuable two points on Saturday as they beat Leigh Miners at the Mayfield Sports Centre in a game they could easily have lost.

They started brightly with Joe Schofield crossing for a John Marsland converted try after about two minutes.

Kelly added to the scoreline as he exploited a gap out wide to go over.

When Avis and Kelly added tries and a conversion by Kelly made the score 20 - 0 it looked like Mayfield would run in a cricket score - they where completely in control.

To their credit Miners showed they are a class side grabbing ascore before half time.

The second half was a different story as Mayfield tired and the mistakes crept in. With the tiredness came the penalties and Miners began to get a foothold in the game.

They slowly chipped away at the Mayfield line and got the score to within four points.

At 22 - 18 with minutes to go Miners pressed again and it took a huge effort from Avis, Schofield, Kershaw and Mahmood to keep them out.

Kelly stepped up and drove his side up field to relieve the threat but Miners held firm.

The game could have gone either way at this point until the referee penalised the visitors for a minor infringement as they tried to get out of their own ten.

Mayfield gratefully accepted the award and Lee Bradley used his power and experience to drive through the defence and ground the ball, Kelly added the conversion.