Rossendale 31

Stockport 19

ROSSENDALE move up to sixth in National Three North after beating Stockport 31-19 at Marl Pits.

James Bramhall opened the scoring, taking a neat inside-ball from new scrum half Ryan De La Harpe. Stockport hit back with a try from Murray Bormal, the centre crashing through from good ball off a five-metre scrum.

Pressure by the home pack and a break by Paddy Pole backed up by Tom Jones set up the opportunity for Bramhall to slip the inside ball to Leyton Taylor coming up at speed to roar in for the second, both tries converted by Steve Nutt.

Just before the interval, a break through the centre set up a try for Ashley Platt-Hughes, the Stockport full back coming into the line to create the extra man. Platt-Hughes also added the conversion to level matters 14-14 at the interval.

In the second period, Sam Atiola brought up the third for the home side, a break by Danny Collins doing the damage as Atiola came up on the inside to take the scoring pass.

Tom Jones secured the bonus point, the second row in support of Tom Allen who had snaffled the ball from a mistake in the Stockport lineout. Nutt was on hand with both conversions before hitting a penalty to seal the win, although the visitors did come back with a late try after continual pressure on the Rossendale line.