ROSSENDALE made hard work of this victory which saw them make it three wins out of three so far in the league.

After a week of inactivity the home side floundered in their attempts to make a convincing start.

With a stiff breeze at their backs, Dale failed to put any worthwhile attacks together and it was left to the boot of fly-half Matt Corns to give Rossendale territorial advantage.

It was his boot which played a part in the first score of the game, a loose ball was fly-hacked on by Corns, and which saw centre Steven Lowe touch down.

Despite this the visitors showed plenty of resilience following their heavy defeat the previous week at the hands of Carlisle.

With a lack of penetration by their forwards it was left to the home side's threequarters to increase the lead on the half hour.

Following a scrummage on the halfway line the ball was moved quickly to the left where Lowe provided the incision into the defensive line to allow debutant winger Dave Farley to score in the corner.

A 15-0 half time lead, Keith Howie landing a conversion and penalty, was about fair, but still left the game in the balance.

With the elements in their favour and with the introduction of a few friends from the South Pacific, Blackpool still provided a threat and managed to penetrate Dale's usually solid defence twice.

In between both scores however, Lowe had grabbed his second try and with Howie landing a penalty with 10 minutes to go, two further points were secured.

Although disappointed with their overall performance, Rossendale's players were praised by coach Andrew Birtwistle.

"I thought the lads put up a very gutsy display," he said. "The introduction of newcomer Dave Farley from Blackburn has brought some welcome competition for places and I thought he had an excellent first game for the club." After their early exit from the national cup competition Rossendale have a free weekend. Their seconds meanwhile have an important second fifteen merit table league game against Fleetwood at Marl Pits this Saturday (3pm).

RESULT: ROSSENDALE...23 BLACKPOOL...12