LOCAL bragging rights belonged to the West Craven Warriors after they won a thrilling derby at Victory Park.

Their win ended the unbeaten record of Burnley and Pendle as they triumphed 32-28 on Saturday in the first ever meeting between the two sides.

It was the home side, the Warriors, who started quickest and they took the lead when they capitalised on an error in the Reds defence.

Burnley and Pendle hit back with a try from the returning Danny Rowland, however, it was to be the closest they would get in the first-half.

The Warriors, with several of their players having featured in Division Two of the Pennine League, turned on the class to turn around at half-time 32-4 up.

The second-half saw a remarkable comeback from the Reds, but they fell just short of taking the spoils. Captain and coach Matt Crowley, who was sidelined through injury, galvanised the visitors, and within moments of the restart Liam Canning had closed the defecit with a try.

The onslaught continued as two tries from Will Yip and another from Canning increased the pressure on the home side.

The ever reliable Adam Healey, who was outstanding in attack, took the game to the Warriors defence. The spine of the Burnley and Pendle team, Chris Wall, Shaye McCullough, Will Holden, Danny Rowland and Marcus Farnworth developed a pattern of play that allowed the likes of Canning, Tom Cooley, Eddie Blake, Will Farnworth and the Kiwi, Richard Murray to go forward taking the game to West Craven.

This allowed the speedy backline including Dan Sharples and Matt Fisher more room to attack the tiring home defence.

The strategy was working with Marcus Farnworth and Adam Healey going over to close the gap to just four points.

But roared on by the home crowd the Warriors stood firm with some heroic try saving tackles securing the victory.

The Reds face a trip to the Liverpool Lions this Saturday before the Warriors travel to the Prairie playing fields for the return fixture on June 29.