Liverpool St Helens 33 Walsall 20

LSH took a further step along the long road to rehabilitation when comprehensively beating a spirited Walsall side on Saturday.

Despite seeing their 33-3 lead whittled away in the last 10 minutes the victory was well deserved and sees the Moss Lane men moving into the mid-table.

Simon Worsley converted two penalties in the first 15 minutes and then a textbook move along the backs, following good work from Botha, enabled Fraser Harris to race in along the right wing for his third try in three games.

Walsall battled back and had the best of the rest of the half. However, every question asked by the Midlanders was answered faultlessly by the LSH pack and the score at half time remained 11-0.

After the re-start an exchange of penalties was followed by some of the best rugby seen at Moss Lane all season. Richie Bailey cheekily stole a Walsall line-out resulting in a scrum from which the backs cleverly worked the ball to Fraser Harris who outpaced the Walsall cover for his second score of the afternoon.

Then, after patient build-up work from the pack, man-of-the-match, skipper Steve Cook skipped through the Walsall defence and scored between the posts. Both tries were converted by Worsley.

There was more to come for the appreciative Moss Lane crowd when back-rower Njike Tchakoute and Mike Nugent combined down the left wing for Nugent to register a well-deserved score for the whole of the hard-working pack.

In the last 10 minutes Walsall ran in three tries but the result was never in doubt and Eric Hughes was pleased with the overall performance and the two points, although he is well aware of the need to maintain progress.

He said: "We switched off for the last ten minutes and nearly paid the penalty. Although very pleased, this shows that we still have some hard work to do."