Stormy weekend for promotion candidates

Once again in National Two North, the weather affected a round of fixtures meaning we only had four matches in the division on Saturday, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t any drama.

Macclesfield and Sedgley Park were not in action meaning Stourbridge, Caldy and Leicester Lions all had the chance to increase the pressure on top two, but only the Lions managed do to so.

Instead, Broadstreet picked up vital victory over Stour as they look to escape the bottom three, while Tynedale moved further away from the drop zone with victory over Caldy.

Leicester Lions’ remain unbeaten at home thanks to a late try over bottom club Huddersfield and there was a win for Chester against an out of form Sandal side.

Elsewhere, South Leicester v Preston Grasshoppers and Luctonians v Sale FC were all postponed alongside Otley v Macclesfield and Harrogate v Sedgley Park.

Broadstreet 19-12 Stourbridge

Broadstreet took a huge step towards safety as they inflicted a third straight defeat on Stourbridge whose promotion bid suffered another setback.

Tries from Andrew Murray and Jack Gibbons, aided by three Lee Champan penalties saw ‘Street win at Ivor Preece Fields and move to within four points of safety.

Stourbridge’s only scores came from Joseph Carpenter and Robert Hurrell as they moved up to second with the losing bonus point which they secured with five minutes to go.

Having said that, Stour have played 21 games compared to fourth placed Sedgley Park that have played just 17 and Stour are only one point clear of them.

Leicester Lions 5-3 Huddersfield

Huddersfield were denied just their second away win of the season as a late Devon Constant try maintained Leicester Lions’ unbeaten record at home this campaign.

Chris Bell had given the away side the lead from the tee on the stroke of half-time and the Yorkshire outfit looked as though they were on their away to securing a crucial victory in the race for survival until Constant darted over to snatch the win.

Huddersfield are now nine points from safety after picking up a bonus point here while Leicester Lions are up to third in the table, just a point behind Stourbridge and they also have a game in hand.

Tynedale 17-7 Caldy

Caldy also failed to take advantage of the top two not in action as they were beaten away at Tynedale who have now won four of their last six matches.

21 of the points were scored in the first half with Joe Mills and Nyle Davidson exchanging tries before three yellow cards in an eight minute period shown to Caldy, gave Tyne the advantage which they took as Oliver Walker crossed.

Davidson, along with Harrison Crowe and Nicholas Royle were the three culprits for the Wirral side in the first half and their side failed to add to their try in the second period as a Matthew Outson penalty for Tyne on 52 minutes ultimately ended the contest.

Tynedale are now up to 11^th with the win and are 11 points clear of the drop zone while Caldy stay fifth and three points behind Stourbridge, but with a game in hand.

Sandal 13-19 Chester

14 points from the boot of Rhys Hayes helped Chester secure their ninth win of the season away at Sandal.

The full-back converted Josh Wilson’s early try before landing four penalties to clinch Chester’s sixth away triumph of the season

Sandal’s fly-half Greg Wood along with a try from Simon Frewin had made the scores 10-10 at the break, but they just couldn’t find that clinical edge in the second period as Sandal’s patchy run of form continued.

Chester are now eighth with this win and are now just two points behind Sandal with both sides having played 20 games.