ALTRINCHAM Kersal’s men’s firsts bounced back from North One West defeat to Warrington with an impressive 34-31 win on the artificial surface at Burnage.

Kersal got off to a slow start, giving away a penalty in the first five minutes, followed by an impressive swerving run from the home side, which resulted in a showcase solo try.

But some strong rallying words from the coaching staff and captain Nathan Bailey, saw them back firing on all cylinders and notching points on the board.

They were 24-17 down at half time and knew they had to up their game further to get a results.

After the break they pushed Burnage all the way with some great ball handling in the line-outs.

They levelled at 24-24 then edged ahead but after a real battle for territory, Burnage went ahead 31-29.

Kersal felt deja-vu from the previous week’s late defeat but this time it was different.

A blistering run from Doug Whyley set up a final charge and Kersal pushed over the whitewash to secure victory.

There was excellent kicking from Ross Keach and tries from Matt Moss, Paul Mallaband (two), John Bishop and Louis Taylor, who was playing his last game for Kersal this season to prepare for his return to rugby league.

The seconds did not have it their way as they went down 27-12 at home to Northwich.

The players went on to the pitch looking eager to win and this approach led to points on the board early thanks to a backs move and Connor Shiels crossing the whitewash, the try duly converted by fly-half Tom O’Rourke.

Kersal were the team in control for most of the first half, running back into opposition territory whenever Northwich tried to escape, only then to let themselves down with a knock-on or poor line-out execution.

Indeed, points against were served up by two consecutive individual mistakes trying to collect ball in and about the Kersal 22, leading to an easy try for the opposition.

It was 7-7 at half time and after the break an early converted penalty against was overcome by a try for the home side from John Coulson, on following an injury to O’Rourke.

Following this, the heavier pack of Northwich began to dominate.

First a try from a line-out catch, maul and drive took them ahead, then a couple of additional killer tries as Kersal flagged late on secured the win.

The men’s thirds romped to a 102-0 victory at Village Spartans seconds while the under-13s drew 25-25 at Wilmslow the following day.