TRAFFORD MV beat Oldham 20-19 in a thrilling North Lancs/Cumbria division clash at MacPherson Park on Saturday that went down to the wire.

Having lost all four of their opening fixtures MV were desperate to pick up points to ease their woes at the foot of the table.

And they started brightly, a penalty from Pat Eccles giving them the lead.

Oldham retaliated almost immediately as they linked good forward and back play together to score a good try which they converted before another Eccles penalty reduced the arrears.

The visiting side struck again with half time approaching as their forwards capped a series of good drives with a tight forward try to give them a 12-6 lead at the break.

With the absence of suspended Andy Quigley, banned for two games, MV seemed to lack a bit of punch in the tackle.

And Oldham took the possession from the kick off and a well-taken ball led to a very early second-half score.

The teams were well matched for a large part of the half and time looked to be running out for MV when Eccles slipped a neat grubber kick through the oncoming defence which popped up for in-form winger James Matthie to collect at full pace and sprint in to score behind the posts.

The conversion was a formality for Eccles to make it 19-13 with five minutes to go.

With nothing to lose MV threw everything they had at Oldham but attack after attack was halted by determined tackling. However, Matthie put in another powerful run and managed to break through a tackle and with a glimpse of the line he used his pace and power to squeeze over wide on the right.

At 19-18 it was down to Pat Eccles to land the conversion and he managed to succeed from an acute angle to secure a much-needed first victory.

It was an important result for MV, who managed to climb off the bottom of the table above Hawcoat Park ahead of Saturday's trip to Littleborough.