ALTRINCHAM Kersal firsts beat fellow North One West strugglers Rochdale 15-7 in a closely-fought clash.

Kersal travelled determined to hit the ground running and opened the scoring through a Dave Coleman penalty.

However, the hosts hit back with a converted try before the break to make it 7-3.

The second half saw Rochdale dig in to keep Kersal at bay but as they tired, they were caught napping and Coleman slipped though their defence for a well-worked try which he expertly converted.

JP Singleton saw his opportunity to increase the lead for Kersal, jinking through the Rochdale defence to bag himself a try.

Rochdale made a last-gasp attempt to pull back the score but Kersal pulled everything out of their locker to prevent further points being added and sealed victory ahead of Saturday's home clash with Warrington. 

The seconds were also victorious, demolishing New Brighton 69-5 with tries from Andy Thomas, Paul Howarth, John Coulson (three), Jake Langmead-Jones, Paul Appleton, Sean Clayton (two), Andy Veitch and Jordan Roberts.

Conversions came from Matt Tully (four) and Paul Howarth (two) as Kersal went back to the top of Division Two South.

Sunday's junior action saw the under-17s Colts travel to Staffordshire to take on Newcastle

Despite a weakened squad, Kersal won 12-7 thanks to tries from Anthony Tanner and Tom Sullivan and a conversion from Sam Walsh.

Meanwhile, the U16s secured a Cheshire Cup quarter-final win – 17-8 against their fellow 2017 finalists Wilmslow.

Tries came from Connor Quai and Ollie Leatherbarrow, with a penalty and two conversions for Elliot Gourlay.