TWO sparkling tries inside the first ten minutes by fleet footed winger Joshua Trinham and a third-quarter penalty were enough to see Stourbridge to victory over Caldy in a ding dong National Two North League encounter at Paton Field.

It finished 15-10 to the visitors as they avenged a home defeat in the first meeting back in September but it could so easily have gone the other way.

Defeat was obviously a bitter pill for Caldy as they lost ground in the promotion race.

They now find themselves in fourth place in the table seven points behind Sedgley Park and Stourbridge who have played a game more and seventeen adrift of leaders Macclesfield.

Trinham crossed wide out in the seventh minute after a searching Stourbridge move found Caldy wanting and soon afterwards the young flyer blitzed the home defence with a terrific solo effort from near the half way line.

The conversion by Thomas Mitchell made it 0-12 and the in-form side had the start they wanted.

Nick Royle went close for a shell shocked home outfit after a cross kick move in the nineteenth minute but they were right back in it two minutes later as the forwards powered over from a line-out for Derek Salisbury to achieve the touch down.

Gavin Roberts added the extras.

Further home pressure ahead of the break went unrewarded and Caldy found themselves needing two scores following a 40 yard Mitchell penalty for Stour in the 47th minute.

Roberts answered with a Caldy kick on 68 minutes to set up a tense closing spell which saw Stourbridge tested to the limit in defence and releaved to hear the final whistle.

Wirral moved joint second in National Three North League with a hard earned 29-22 success away to Huddersfield YM.

Birkenhead Park find themselves fourth bottom in the same league following a 21-36 defeat in the cross river derby at Waterloo.

They rallied well late on and in the end were unlucky not to get a try bonus point.

A Stu Brown touch down from a rolling maul plus the conversion by Dave Hall made it 24-7 to Waterloo at the half way stage and they stretched to 36-7 by the hour mark.

But then strong forward play brought further Park tries for Brown and Jack Ashcroft with Hall adding the extras each time to make the scoreline more respectable.

Anselmians battled to a 16-14 success at home to Manchester in South Lancashire / Cheshire One but there was disappointment for Hoylake as they succumbed 13-16 against Sefton at Melrose Avenue.

The Bowdon v New Brighton fixture was a weather victim.

Oxton Parkonians took a tense Merseyside West derby at Port Sunlight 7-3 thanks to a try and conversion via Andy Smith.

The Prenton v Oldershaw and Birchfield v Ellesmere Port matches were amongst the day's casualties because of the conditions.

There are several local derbies listed for this coming Saturday including:

New Brighton v Anselmians, Oxton Parkonians v Prenton and Port Sunlight v Wallasey.

Caldy welcome Preston Grasshoppers and there are also home fixtures for Wirral against Sheffield Tigers and Birkenhead Park against Huddersfield YM.

Other matches include Hoylake v Glossop and Oldershaw v Ruskin Park on another full league afternoon.