Will Mallinson scored a hat-trick, as Furness came out on top of a fiery local derby in Cumbria Division Two by defeating Millom 34-27 at the Strawberry Grounds.

The match’s most controversial moment came with just under half an hour gone, when Millom fly-half Jordan Moyes was sent off for punching opposite number Adam Jackson, who needed eight stitches to his mouth as a result.

Mallinson and Millom prop Steve Watson were sin-binned after the fracas that followed, with the score 10-7 to Furness at the time.

Once he returned to the field, Mallinson made the most of the extra space in midfield by scoring three of the hosts’ five tries, with winger Joel Thomas and full back Alex Brown also crossing the whitewash and Millom claiming two losing bonus points.

Windermere maintained their resurgent form by coming from behind to defeat a spirited Creighton side 39-28.

It was their second win in a row and kept them behind Furness on points difference in fifth place, but they had to fight back from deficits on three separate occasions.

Windermere turned around for the second half 21-14 down before producing a dominant display that allowed them to rack up 25 unanswered points, with all of them being unconverted tries.

The Dawes Meadow outfit have this weekend off before returning to action with a home clash against Workington on November 10.