STRUGGLING Trafford MV went down 45-31 at home to second-placed Fleetwood in the ADM Premier League on Saturday.

Bottom of the table MV have struggled to find any vein of form for months and a lack of confidence and missing players has hit the side hard.

However coach Kit Brammer is looking to rebuild and in the opening stages here it would not have been clear to a neutral observer who was the higher ranked side.

MV spent the first minutes camped the the visitors' half and took the early initiative with a try from influential winger James Matthie converted by Luke Cox.

Both teams engaged in 80 minutes of good attacking rugby and much of the game went punch for punch as teams took turns to edge in front then slip back again.

It was obvious to the home support however that something had clicked with the MV team and their performance was hugely improved compared with recent weeks and months.

The forwards, led by Chris Ward, were effective and Lewis Kingdon was back in aggressive, go forward mood putting the opposition defence on the back foot.

In the backs Matthie was back in good from and Matt Coxon too played well in both attack and defence.

Both teams were probably weak in their tackle count and with a little more work in this defensive area MV could possibly have walked away from this game with a confidence-boosting win.

Picking up a league bonus point for scoring four tries however will boost players' moral and give an incentive going into their next game.

MV scored tries through Ward, two, and Matthie, two, with the remaining points coming from the boots of Leon Passley and Luke Cox.

This was a narrow escape for Fleetwood but the message can start going out that Trafford MV are looking dangerous again.

With players still missing but a new-found desire, the turning point might be just around the corner. This Saturday MV are at Aldwinians.