ALTRINCHAM Kersal's firsts beat the fog to win 43-24 on home soil against Eccles in North One West.

The game started well for Altrincham with their pack turning the screw on Eccles at the scrum which was rewarded when the referee awarded a penalty try.

Eccles hit back through their dangerous winger who made sure the Kersal back line were on their toes for the full afternoon.

This definitely kicked the hosts into gear with the forwards now dominating at every set-piece, giving the backs licence to run their plays.

Kersal scored two quick tries, one from the returning Paul Mallaband and the other from John Bishop, giving them an important foothold in the game.

But the game very nearly turned on its head with two yellow cards shown to Kersal players in quick succession, leaving the hosts to play with 13 men.

Kersal stuck together well and battled hard, being two men down but keeping the ball tied up with the forwards until the two players returned to the field. 

When the hosts returned to their full complement they started to pull away from Eccles with tries from another returnee, influential vice captain Steve Richardson, and one from Pete O'Connor, giving coach Chris Nettleton the opportunity to rest some of the returning players who have been massively missed so far this season.

Kersal managed to grab another try before full time which came from Louis Taylor, who once again had a great performance in the centre.

Captain Nathan Bailey was back in force, recovered from his knee injury sustained at Warrington, and all other returning players came through the game unscathed.

The seconds also enjoyed a winning weekend when they beat Winnington Park 5-3.

After their high standard the previous week, confidence was high with the seconds and they always looked the most likely to score.

Back-row player Matt Hassard beat the gain line with his strength and with a burst of pace looked certain to score. However, the referee judged the ball had not been properly grounded over the try line.

A try eventually came from a scrum near the right touchline followed by a training-ground move by the backs that saw Doug Whyley taking the ball at fly-half and wrapping around behind the centres whose dummy runs created space for him to cross the whitewash.

This was justice for effort by the team, but a penalty very late in the half allowed Park to gain three points in response. After a positive half-time team talk, more raids into opposition territory were set up.

Captain Andy Thomas at hooker was vociferous in mustering the troops, while scrum-half Ged Scrase was always there at breakdowns chirping away and becoming an every improving real asset as the link between forwards and backs.

Chris Weighell and Ryan Gladding proved an immense second-row pairing, but in the last 10 minutes it was the gutsy defensive line which stood firm.

On Sunday, Kersal's under-13s won 35-15 in a home friendly against Lymm.