ALTRINCHAM Kersal first XV responded to the disappointment of defeat at Leigh with an 18-18 home draw against Vale of Lune in North One West.

The game started strongly with Jack Emerson nudging Kersal in front but then slack play allowed the visitors to score.

Kersal rallied and took a walk from the line-out into the Vale 22, forcing themselves over through Paul Mallaband flopping over from the back of the driving maul, Emerson adding the extra points from the conversion.

He added a penalty to give Kersal a 13-8 lead at the interval.

The second half started with the AK back blasting Vale away at the line-out with another driving maul, Mallaband touching down again to extend the lead to 18-8.

With 10 minutes to go, Kersal captain Nathan Bailey left the field with an ankle injury and Vale started to gain some momentum.

They eventually found a breakthrough to get back into the game at 18-13.

Just when the match looked to be heading for a home win, the Kersal defence leaked another try, though Vale failed with the conversion attempt meaning it ended all square.

The seconds enjoyed a 57-12 win at Sefton, scoring nine tries on the day.

Sam Gallimore bagged a hat-trick with Sean Clayton, Ross Keatch, Aaron Lofthouse, Rob Heseltine, Micah Dyos and Adam Barker all scoring tries, while centre Doug Whyley assisted with many of these scores through excellent link play. 

The third XV continued their promotion charge with a 43-5 home win against Leigh fourths.

A third successive win sees Kersal second in the league on the same points as Broughton Park.

The game started brightly with four first-half tries scored by Kersal.

Kersal had a big half-time advantage and pushed on with three more tries in the second half.

Leigh continued to battle in tough conditions and grabbed a deserved consolation.

Meanwhile, the ladies' side lost 32-0 at home against Crewe and Nantwich Ladies.

The game was marred by an early injury to flanker Rachel Bennett.

Back-of-the-match was awarded to Hannah Depledge who made her first start after coming off the bench last week.

She made a series of solid tackles out on the wing and displayed eye-catching skills when she followed up her kick and chase with a crunching tackle on the receiver.

Forward-of-the-match went to back-rower Christine Braithwaite for a typically solid performance and high tackle-count.