Rugby League: Littleborough 45 - 12 Latchford Albion

Nathan Mason, Littleborough Rugby League

In a bruising encounter at Rakewood, Littleborough recovered from a poor first half performance to outgun and outsmart Latchford Albion to take top spot once more.

Centre Keenan Mason touched down for Littleborough within the opening 10 minutes before Latchford responded with two tries.

First the left winger ran in a fantastic 80 metre effort before the second row burst through unusually weak tackles to dot down next to the right-hand post.

Littleborough found a way back into the contest as David Kearns, on his first start of the season, broke through to score from close range.

Hooker Nathan Mason gave Boro the lead in typical fashion when he sniped from dummy half and burrowed under desperate last-ditch tackles on the try line.

On a scorching afternoon, Latchford's big team struggled to keep up their first half tempo while Littleborough's youthful and energetic side were growing into the game on every phase of play.

This showed when straight from the restart two big carries from left side combo Jordan Turner and Aaron Jones had Latchford back pedalling. Quick play from the ruck and even quicker hands put Turner in a gap. He fed an inside pass to Jack Whittles who streaked in under the posts.

Further tries from David Kearns and Nathan Mason took the game out of the reach of the away side as Littleborough continued to dominate.

Mason's second try was particularly spectacular individual effort as he brushed and battered his way through six defenders to dive under the posts.

There was even time for Littleborough to register more point as David Kearns collected a perfectly weighted miss pass from Dominic Kershaw to glide in for his hat-trick and with it the match ball.

Kershaw's simple penalty in the last play of the game saw him record a remarkable 100% successful rate and guarantee Littleborough a spot at the summit for another week.