Macclesfield and South Leicester leave it late to seal crucial wins

League leaders Macclesfield and relegation threatened South Leicester both score vital points in the dying ambers of their games in Round 22 to clinch vital wins in their contrasting campaigns.

Macclesfield were given a scare by a spirited Luctonians side while South Leicester took a huge step in the right direction as they beat relegation rivals Broadstreet in the last minute of their clash.

Away from that, Sedgley Park moved back to second in the table while Caldy missed another opportunity and Harrogate and Preston Grasshoppers both moved into the top half with the latter now unbeaten in seven games.

Elsewhere, Sale FC continued their fine form at Heywood Road as they eased any relegation fears they may have had as the beat Sandal while bottom club Huddersfield fought valiantly against Stourbridge.

Macclesfield 22-19 Luctonians

Lewis Barker’s late penalty saw league leaders Macclesfield edge past a spirited Luctonians side in a tight encounter at Priory Park.

David Marwick and Greg Newton both scored tries for Macclesfield and Daniel Smith, along with William Hodnett, dotted down for Lucts in a tight first half before the visitors took the lead seven minutes into the second 40 when Alex Smith went over.

Ryan Parkinson brought the scores level on 52 minutes with his sixth try in three matches before fly-half Barker landed a late penalty to give the hosts the win. The Luctonians did have a chance at the death to snatch a draw, but they failed with their penalty attempt.

The victory means Macclesfield are now 14 points clear of the rest of the field having played 19 games while the Luctonians, who earned a deserved bonus point, are eight points from safety, but they still have four games in hand due to recent postponements.

Sedgley Park 30-5 Leicester Lions

Sedgley Park eased past Leicester Lions to record their third straight win as the moved back up to second in the table.

The hosts led 22-5 at the break, Max Ashcroft scoring the game’s first try from a driving maul before Daniel Waddy adde a second on 17 minutes. Robert Holloway also crossed for Sedge inside the first quarter of this match to give them a commanding advantage.

Samuel Benjamin scored the Lions’ only points before the break, but the visitors failed to add to their tally after the interval as they fell to their first defeat in five matches.

Matthew Riley slotted a penalty to begin the second 40 for the home side before Matthew Lamprey slid over late on as Sedgley rounded off victory in their first game for three weeks.

Stourbridge 25-19 Huddersfield

Scrum-half Tobias Handley scored twice as Stourbridge edged past Huddersfield to arrest a run of three straight defeats to keep their promotion hopes alive.

It was actually bottom of the division Huddersfield that were ahead 7-16 at half-time thanks to 11 points from the boot of Chris Bell and a try from Nicolas Rhodes. Tatenda Mukarati’s converted score was all Stour could muster in the opening half.

After the break, Chris Scott landed a penalty to decrease Huddersfield’s advantage, before Handley gave his team the lead with his first try of the afternoon.

That lasted just two minutes though, as Bell kicked his fourth penalty of the day to nudge ‘Field back in front before another penalty from Scott and Handley’s second score in the final play of the game made sure of the victory for Stour.

Stour are now down to third and are level on 66 points with second-placed Sedgley, but Sedge have four games in hand. As for Huddersfield, this was a performance which showed great fight and if they continue to put in these kinds of displays, they may well escape the drop, but there is still an awful lot for them to do.

Caldy 10-15 Otley

Caldy once again missed the chance to put pressure on the play-off place as they fell to back to back defeats after their home loss against Otley.

Caldy had gone into this game just three points off second place, but for the third time in 2016, they missed their chance to go into the promotion spots.

Saturday’s game was controlled by Otley extremely well as they led 0-10 at half-time thanks to tries from the ever-present Stephen Depledge and Jack Scott-Paul despite being down to 14 men on two occasions during the first period.

Caldy hit back after the break with a Richard Vasey penalty, but Matthew Heaton’s try for Otley on 55 minutes stretched their lead further.

Jack Lavin’s score three minutes later for Caldy brought them right back into the contest with a quarter of the game still to play, but Otley held on to secure their third win in their last four games.

Otley stay sixth after this victory while Caldy are six points off Sedgley Park and the Tigers also have three games in hand over the Wirral side.

Chester 23-27 Harrogate

Noel Minikin’s late try was enough for Harrogate to beat Chester, despite a late comeback from the hosts at Hare Lane.

‘Gate took an early lead through a Callum Irvine try while Chester’s Rhys Hayes slotted over a penalty to make it 3-7.

Willem Enslin and Samuel Bottomley touched down for the visitors before a score from Josh Wilson to give Gate an 8-19 lead at the break.

Sean Green’s try put Chester nine behind after the restart, but a Lewis Minkin penalty extended the away sides lead once again.

On 70 minutes, Adam King sealed a bonus point for Chester as he crossed to make it 18-22, but Noel Minkin’s score nine minutes from the end took the wind out of Chester’s sails.

King did go over for his second in the final 60 seconds of the match, but it was too little too late for the home side that have now lost eight games at Hare Lane this term.

Preston Grasshoppers 39-16 Tynedale

Preston Grasshoppers are now unbeaten in seven matches after securing a bonus-point win over Tynedale at Lightfoot Green.

Tries from Ryan Feeney and Alastair Murray helped the hosts into a 15-9 half-time lead with Matthew Ouston landing three penalties for Tyne.

The second 40 saw both teams go down to 12 men, but it began with Sean Taylor adding to his first half penalty before Scott Jordan crossed smartly to stretch Preston’s lead.

A penalty try kept Tynedale in the game, but Garth Dew’s side ran away with the victory late on as Daniel Madden and Taylor made sure the score line reflected Hoppers’ dominance. They have now moved up to eighth in the table after adding another win to their remarkable run of form.

Sale FC 26-20 Sandal

16 points from the boot of Liam McGovern helped Sale FC come from behind to defeat Sandal and maintain their impressive form at Heywood Road this season.

Sale had led 10-7 at the break following Samuel Stelmaszek’s try and a conversion and a penalty from McGovern, with a Sam Whittingham converted try for Sandal.

The away side then took the lead eight minutes into the second half thanks to a score from centre David Martin before Sale turned the game around.

McGovern was on hand to slot over two penalties six minutes after Martin’s try to make it 16-17 before converting a crucial score from Chris Mayor to give his side the lead on 62 minutes.

Greg Wood hit back with three points for Sandal soon after, but McGovern ultimately sealed Sale’s seventh home win of the season with his fourth penalty of the afternoon on 72 minutes.

Broadstreet 29-30 South Leicester

South Leicester prop Andrew Gates’ late try kept his side above the bottom three after a dramatic win against relegation rivals Broadstreet at Ivor Preece Fields.

Leading 12-15 at the break, South went behind when Nicholas Thatcher scored a hat-trick inside 15 second half minutes to give Broadstreet a 29-18 advantage heading into the final quarter of the game.

Full back Jacob Heath and a Penalty Try had given South the edge before the break with four Lee Chapman penalties keeping ‘Street in touch with their visitors.

But William Sutton crossed six minutes from the end to set-up the platform for South to take the lead again and they did just that when Gates’ went over for the decisive try which Ricci Aley successfully converted to give the away side a vital victory.