Leek hold their nerve to secure home win, while Sandbach stay at the summit with fresh victory

LEEK won 32-30 at home against Wirral in Regional One North West.

- Chris Travers

SANDBACH made it three Regional Two North West wins in a row with a 31-15 home victory over Firwood Waterloo.

Leaders Sandbach, with an unchanged squad, opened the scoring after seven minutes with a beautifully worked try.

They had been defending confidently and gave Firwood Waterloo no easy options. Trying to find a gap, the visitors went for a long throw over the top to try, but the loose ball was scooped up by Matt Randle who took off rapidly.

The winger offloaded on the tackle to George Cole who was in support and the outside centre accelerated down the wing to score. Randle slotted the conversion and Sandbach were 7-0 up.

Firwood Waterloo's response was immediate when a few minutes later a maul from a lineout was heading towards the try line. Sandbach's defence did its best to hold it back but eventually it couldn't be stopped and Waterloo scored the try.

Sandbach's try was the highlight of their half as Firwood Waterloo looked to be back at their best. The opponents piled the pressure on Sandbach's defence, however, they couldn't break through.

When Firwood Waterloo picked up a penalty in range, they went for the three points and the half ended with Waterloo leading by one point. Sandbach would need to find a new approach in the second half.

That new approach was led by Laurie Essenhigh as he marshalled the attack after kickoff. Sandbach were moving through the phases and the scrumhalf was in control. The ball was sent out wide and Sandbach had players on the overlap. It was Elliot Morris who took possession and went over for the try to put Sandbach back in the lead.

Firwood Waterloo were playing a lot of ball in hand but were struggling to get over halfway. Mike Egglestone put in several huge tackles, as he did in the first half, and helped to keep Waterloo at bay.