TRAFFORD MV lost an enthralling North Lancs/Cumbria Division clash by just one point to Hawcoat Park on Saturday.

The visitors made a great start, scoring in the first minutes when the ball was quickly moved through hands to winger Glenn Kaighan, who beat his man on the outside before passing inside to George Smith who touched down on his Hawcoat Park debut, James Howden converting to make it 7-0.

The tone was set for the first 30 minutes with Hawcoat dominating.

MV's defence was strong but was working overtime to keep the visitors at bay.

The pressure eventually told as centre Chris Burns ran into space to touch down from 30 metres.

Howden converted and soon after added a 30metre penalty to make it 17-0.

Park lost scrum-half Sam Hilton following a knock to the head and this was soon followed by MV prop Paul Davenport picking up a red card when out of frustration he threw a punch in front of the referee who indicated he had no option but to dismiss him.

The numbers were evened up for 10 minutes when Hawcoat skipper Danny White received a yellow card for a high tackle.

In this spell leading up to half time, Trafford finished strongly with centre Ed Brady running to touch down. This was converted by Pat Eccles who soon added a penalty for a  half-time score of 17-10.

Hawcoat Park started the second half as strongly as the first and three scores followed for Jason Priss, Ashley Mowatt and Smith, while Howden's kicking opened the gap to 34-10.

Trafford did not give up the fight and created a good try with prop Joe Cooper touching down under the posts before Eccles converted.

Will Mallinson scored Hawcoat's sixth try after picking the ball up at the base of the scrum and going on the blind side to make it 39-17.

The rest of the game was all Trafford, who clearly decided upon an initial strategy of running everything to try to get a bonus point for four tries.

With lively scrum-half Eccles and a mobile back row led by Danny Burke, three good tries followed.

Back-row John Feldman showed strength and determination for his, Eccles used his close sniping skills and Zac Crabb used his pace in open play.

Eccles kicking seven out of seven took the game right to the wire as Manchester Society referee John Pemberton blew time on a thrilling game.

Two losing bonus points saw MV climb above last season's title contenders Littleborough into ninth and they now have a break before they host league leaders Fleetwood on October 22.