Brighouse Rangers 36 vs Castleford Panthers 4

Try Scores,

Andy Esmond (Brighouse Sports Ladies Football Club) x 4

Danny McGrath (Jason Horsley)

Oliver Peterkin (24/7 Blinds)

Adam Hirst (AJ Gastech)

Conversions,

Karl Frankland x 4 (The Prince Albert “Pop Inn”)

Players of the Match,

1st – Matty Bailey (OverU)

2nd – Oliver Peterkin (24/7 Blinds)

3rd – Jay Mccullogh (ShiftHero)

Another big home crowd watched the Rangers comprehensively beat Castleford Panthers, atoning for an earlier cup defeat this season to the visitors, in the Brighouse sunshine.

The platform was laid straight from the kickoff, the Ranger’s huge pack showing little sympathy to the visitors after the four tackles the visiters making only 15/20 meters kicking early hoping to relieve the pressure, the Rangers back line beneficiaries of the fast start, Andy Esmond touching down out wide in the retuning set with just over one minute on the clock Rangers went ahead.

The fast start continued after Karl Frankland broke the line, and left centre Danny McGrath repeated the dose in the 10th minute, slicing through, Esmond scored again, great footwork from halfback Troy Ambler opening up the visitors to put Rangers16-0 up with only 20 minutes played.

But the Panthers hit back in the 27th minute, a move from the base of a scrum yielding a well-constructed try.

With the Panthers pressuring Rangers, a high kick was safely dealt with by Frankland at the back, and he was able to find winger Oliver Peterkin on the left edge, who raced 50 yards upfield, a scrambling tackle stopping a try right on the stroke of half time the score remained 20-4 at the break.

The second half began with both sides fighting to get a foothold in the game, with the Rangers managing to achieve this continued pressure started to show the gaps started to appear in the defensive line, which Esmond was able to exploit for another score.

Rangers were unlucky not to add another try shortly after when Frankland collected a shrewd Ben Drennan chip kick leaving him two-on-one with the fullback, only to be ruled offside.

The Rangers forwards continued to dominate, twins Ronnie and Matty Bailey, Jordan Sild, Charlie Walker, Jay McCulloch and George Bannister proving to be a real handful for the visitors in the middle, with Nicky Barraclough off the bench adding his experience to the mix.

Will Clerehugh, Ambler, Drennan and Callum Sutcliffe were marshalling the big middles well, the frustrated visitors allowing a bit of indiscipline to creep in, and inevitably they were reduced to 12.

Ball handling loose forward Adam Hirst took advantage, with a magical show and go close to the line catching out the Panther’s defence, and minutes later, Peterkin crashed over in the corner to extend Ranger’s lead even further.

Panthers kept battling away though, Liam Jelfs proving his safety under the high ball, defusing a tricky bomb, but with the clock ticking down, Esmond scored again, hacking through and collecting to score under the posts after a handling error by the visitors, Frankland converting to make the final score 38-4.