BURNLEY and Pendle continued their winning start to the season with a comfortable victory over Hope Valley Hawks.

The Reds followed up an opening day success at Blackpool with a 52-12 victory on Saturday.

The first 10 minutes saw some stern defence from both sides before the Hawks conceded a penalty for off-side. With Hope Valley expecting a kick to touch they were caught unawares by captain Matt Crowley who tapped the ball to himself and broke the line to score under the posts.

The advantage was stretched soon after by some clever work from scrum half Will Holden who chipped over the defence on the left wing and regathered his own kick to score out wide to make it 10-0.

After 20 minutes powerful prop Adam Healey scored under the posts following a 40 metre dash to the line.

Hope Valley redoubled their efforts with heavy pressure in the Burnley and Pendle half, but some big hits by debutant Luca Angelone forced a knock on and the hosts survived with their try line intact.

Moments later the Reds took advantage of a loose ball near the Hawks line, with Tom Cooley slipping the ball to Holden to score again. The converstation was again slotted over by 16-year-old full back Marcus Farnworth.

On the stroke of half-time the Hawks finally got on the board but they were 22-6 down at the break.

The Hawks started the second half strongly but could find no way past the Reds defence. A scrum inside the Reds half resulted in the next try, with loose forward Shaye McCullough picking the ball up at the base and outpacing the opposition to sprint 60 metres to score under the posts.

A series of Reds attacks followed from the restart with Chris Wall, Cooley and Crowley all involved, before finally Crowley spun out of a tackle to score his second try of the afternoon.

There was no let up in the Reds intensity now and their lead was further stretched with tries from Wall and Craig Wiseman, before the victory was capped with a late try from the debutant Angelone.

It made it two wins out of two for Burnley and Pendle and puts them in good form ahead of next weekend’s local derby when they travel the short distance to Barnoldswick to take on West Craven Warriors in what should be an intriguing clash.