TRAFFORD bounced back to form with a 34-27 at Silloth in the North Lancs/Cumbria Division despite being forced into a selection reshuffle.

Ben Wheeler and Andrew Moore were unavailable but the team were in good spirits from the early exchanges it was clear Sale side were going to be dominant in the set pieces.

MV's expansive style of play brought early rewards as left winger Jon Lord rounded his opposite number to open the scoring in the corner.

Both sides then had penalty attempts with MV's hitting the top of the upright while Silloth split the sticks to narrow the score.

The home side were looking keen and some good possession led to a kick through which bounced off an MV defender's legs into the hands of the chasing attacker who left a flat-footed defence for dead.

The converted try gave Silloth a 10-5 advantage, but they showed bouts of indiscipline which brought a yellow card for their scrum-half and it gave MV some much-needed respite.

With time running out in the first half MV earned a free kick on the home 22 line.

As MV kicked, apparently to touch for an attacking line-out, hooker Ross Anderson spotted the kick falling short and sprinted to take the ball on the full and race over untouched for a try.

Patrick Eccles converted for a half time lead to MV of 12-10.

MV started the second half on top and after a number of stoppages the referee finally lost patience and awarded them a penalty try which Eccles again converted.

It was now or never for the home side and, spurred on by the crowd, Silloth came back into the game with two well-worked tries to go 20-19 ahead.

It was now nip and tuck and MV nosed in front when Eccles launched a good penalty.

Silloth then struck again to earn a bonus point and converted for a 27-22 lead.

MV were tackling well and when centre Ed Brady won a turnover ball in the centre, it was spun out quickly to winger Jamie Kingdon who powered through two desperate tackles to level the score at 27-27.

With a draw looking the likely outcome it was left to MV's player/coach and stand-off Stuart Crampton to have the last say. With the home defence expecting a wide attack, Crampton stepped back inside and weaved his way through, scoring just to the right of the posts for an easy conversion to follow to seal victory.

Man of the match was MV's Sean Garvey who had an outstanding game at blindside flanker in the pack.

This was a good away win for MV which brought a sought after bonus point and puts them in sixth behind this week's opponents Wigton.