WIRRAL suffered their first defeat of the season against a Cleckheaton team who had the majority of possession this was despite holding the lead on two occasions.

The away team took a first minute lead with a Craig Harvey penalty from in front of the posts but within five minutes Cleckheaton had equalized through Ross Hayden.

The same kicker missed another penalty but from the 22-metre drop out, Cleckheaton took the lead through a try by Afoa Petersen, converted by Hayden.

A couple of minutes later Hayden coasted in for a try which he did not convert to give Cleckheaton a 15-3 lead.

This lead was extended by a well taken drop goal from Matt Piper from 35-metre out and Wirral were able to reduce the arrears to 18-6 with another Craig Harvey penalty just before half time.

At the start of the second half, Wirral played with greater intensity and in the first 17 minutes were rewarded with tries from Ali Baker and Julian Haigh, the latter being well taken following a rehearsed move from the back of a scrum. Both tries were converted by Craig Harvey to give Wirral a 20-18 lead.

However the lead was short lived, within five minutes Cleckheaton went in for two further tries through James Wilson and Ross Hayden.

One of these tries was converted to give Cleckheaton a comfortable lead of 30-20.

The scoring ended when a favourable ball bounce allowed full back Ross Hayden to score his hat-trick try from three metres out to leave Cleckheaton deserved winners at 37-20.

Wirral had created a number of opportunities but could not find the final pass to convert these chances which could have reversed this score line.