SLAITHWAITE Saracens moved into the third round of the Pennine Supplementary Cup with a 14-8 victory over Huddersfield rivals Meltham All Blacks.

The tie proved a close-fought derby contest throughout, with both teams fighting for the win right up to the final whistle.

Slaithwaite opened the scoring with a Shaun Bowyer penalty as both sets of forwards tried to gain the upper hand.

But the All Blacks soon hit the front themselves when a Rob Lewis penalty was followed up with a try from Meltham man-of-the-match David Roebuck.

Yet such was the see-saw nature of the clash that it was no surprise when Slaithwaite hit back with a converted Liam Tindall try before Lewis added a second penalty to make it 8-8 at the break.

The second half started just like the first, with solid defending from both sides, and it took a strong effort from Kyle Dyson and a Bowyer conversion to nudge the Saracens back in front.

The All Blacks did press hard to claw their way back again, but the Slaithwaite defence held firm to guarantee success in a tie in which they were well led by Sam Crowther, Richard Gutteridge, Lee Hurd and Tindall.

But while Slaithwaite’s second string had something to celebrate, there was disappointment for their first team as they were beaten 33-20 at Halifax Irish in the Premier Division.

They say one man doesn’t make a team, but in former professionals Dave Smith and Chris Norman they certainly had two men who made all the difference in the world.

The Saracens started strongly and had four points on the board after just two minutes when Shaun Mitchell raced over.

The hosts then quickly hit back with two tries of their own before Ben Feehan crossed for his side’s second try and Danny Garside converted to take Slaithwaite back into the lead.

But even though Mitchell added a second five minutes before the break, it was the Halifax side who had a slight half-time advantage at 18-14.

Feehan then grabbed his second within minutes of the restart, with Garside again adding the extras to put the visitors back in front.

But that was the cue for the Halifax’s side’s two ex-pros to take control and finally take the game out of their opponents’ reach.