Southport 3 Burnley 8

11:03am Tuesday 11th December 2007

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BURNLEY ran out narrow winners in this fiery Lancashire Plate match against Southport.

Both sides were forced to play with 14 men for the second half after Nick Cassidy for Burnley was shown a red card and Southport were also penalised in similar fashion following a fight deep into first half injury time.

The game was proving difficult enough for the two sides, who were struggling to cope with the conditions at Waterloo Road.

A wet and windy afternoon, coupled with a heavy pitch, didn't prove conducive to fast-flowing rugby.

Burnley got off to a terrible start when Dave Collinge was sent to the sin-bin inside the first five minutes for killing the ball.

But Southport couldn't take advantage of their numerical supremacy and fell behind to a penalty for a similar offence just minutes later.

Dan Leck slotted the ball between the posts to give the visitors a 3-0 lead.

And that's the way the scoreboard stayed for the opening period following a heated end to the half.

After the interval, Burnley's forwards gained the upper hand in the battle and Laurie Smith scored in the corner, although Leck failed with the conversion attempt.

Southport managed to exert some late pressure in the last 10 minutes and were rewarded for their efforts with a penalty to draw them within a score of the win.

But the visitors held out to take the victory.

l Burnley's Senior Colts went down 20-25 to Liverpool Collegiate on Sunday.