Liverpool St Helens 32 Harrogate 27 LSH TOOK a big step towards avoiding relegation at a wet and breezy Moss Lane on Saturday, with a rousing first half display.

They denied Harrogate possession for long periods and when the visitors did have the ball, the home forwards and midfield pressurised them into handling errors.

The home pack dominated all aspects except the line-out and retained possession far more often after the tackle than of late.

This resulted in numerous assaults on the Harrogate line and produced tries for Brett, Gaskell and Boyd all converted from wide out by Brett who also kicked a penalty in response to a penalty for Harrogate by fly-half Going.

A 24-3 half time lead was impressive, and seemed to be a comfortable cushion, but eventually it was to prove only just enough.

Early in the second half Harrogate hit back with a try by Australian centre Caldwell but LSH countered with the best try of the match by Humphreys making a welcome return after a lay-off of five months through injury.

He strongly finished off a 40 metre move involving several players following a Liddle free-kick.

Winger Morley then added a second try for Harrogate while Dave Gaskell was off the field having a dislocated finger put back, but with 15 minutes left Brett landed a long penalty to stretch the lead to 32-15.

Harrogate then lost number eight Hopkinson who was sent off for foul play. This seemed to galvanise them into motion as LSH unwisely took their foot off the pedal, allowing Harrogate much more possession which resulted in two further tries in the final five minutes, the last one in injury time to damage the nerves of the home supporters.

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