SIDDAL are still firmly in the National Conference League Premier Division title race.
The in-form Halifax club remain joint top with Wigan St Patricks and Wath Brow Hornets after securing a hard-fought 20-16 home triumph over Leigh Miners Rangers.
The result means Siddal are now up to 20 points, although they have played one game more than leaders St Pats and two more than second-placed Wath Brow.
But Siddal were forced to dig deep to secure their latest success, having to battle back from an 8-0 half-time deficit to take the honours.
Stand-off Shaun Garrod got the hosts off the mark with a try within four minutes of the second half with a superb solo effort and he then added a second on the hour mark.
That helped inspire his teammates, with Gareth Blackburn and Craig Sim crossing for further scores and Shaun Blackburn adding a second conversion to take the game away from the Lancastrians.
It was clearly an excellent way to end the contest and puts Siddal in excellent heart ahead of Saturday’s Conference Challenge Cup quarter-final clash at Egremont Rangers.
Unfortunately, there were defeats for Second Division duo Ovenden and Elland.
Ovenden lost ground on the leading pack with a 34-26 home defeat to Crosfields, who paid the price for having just 16 men.
Their tries came from Nial Brady (2), Keiron Nicholson, Jamie Dodd and Luke Sandland, who also landed three goals. They now head to Normanton on Saturday.
At the same time, Elland went down 33-18 at Waterhead after allowing their hosts to build up an early 20-0 advantage.
The visitors’ points came through tries from Richard Crawshaw, David Montgomery and Jack Fairbank and conversions from Phil Taylor.
