CALDY had to work hard for their second victory in National Two North League.

Eventually they triumphed 24-18 away to Stourbridge and it has been an encouraging first three weeks of the league season for the Wirral outfit whose first three matches have all been away from home.

Birkenhead Park upset the form book in National Three North as they took the cross river derby against Firwood Waterloo 35-12 at the Upper Park.

Birkenhead went into the clash on the back of two defeats whilst Waterloo were looking for a third successive victory.

The home side gained a penalty try after five minutes with Dave Hall converting. Waterloo hit back with a converted try but Park built up an 18-7 interval advantage with a Jack Ashcroft touch down and a brace of penalties from Hall.

Third quarter pressure was rewarded with a Peter White try goal by Hall. Then Stu Brown went in twice from line-outs to make it 35-7 before a late consolation for the losers.

Wirral also enjoyed a good win 44-27 against visiting Huddersfield YM.

New Brighton in South Lancashire/Cheshire One were happy with a 39-12 win over Bowdon at Hartsfield. It was hard work for a time but the visitors eventually ran out of steam and the Blues collected the try bonus point.

There were defeats for Anselmians 40-24 at Manchester and Hoylake 26-17 at Sefton.

Oxton Parkonians took one Merseyside West derby against Port Sunlight 21-17. Matt Dooley crossed twice for Parks. There was also a try from Dan Bythe with Ben Sadler adding all three goals.

The other derby success went to Oldershaw 36-3 against Prenton at Belvidere.

Ellesmere Port saw off Birchfield 42-14.

Caldy play their fourth successive away league match this Saturday at Preston Grasshoppers.

There are also away games for Birkenhead Park at Huddersfield YM and Wirral at Sheffield Tigers.

Other fixtures taking place on a full league Saturday include impressive-looking derbies and potential crowd-pullers involving Anselmians v New Brighton, Prenton v Oxton Parkonians and Wallasey v Port Sunlight.

Hoylake are due at Glossop and Oldershaw at Ruskin Park among the other fixtures.