Rugby union: Father and son combination Richard and Joe Dalton inspire Hawcoat Park A to victory

In light winds and sunshine, the match took place amongst much more pleasant conditions than teams from south Cumbria have had to put up with in recent weeks.

The Maroon and Whites had to play against the wind in the first half, but it was they who opened the scoring in the tenth minute from their first venture into the Rochdale 22 with a converted try.

However, it was while they were 7-0 up when Corey Doughty was sent to the sin bin and Rochdale made the most of their man advantage by crossing the whitewash twice to move into a 12-7 lead.

Once the hosts were restored to their full compliment, Joe Dalton reduced the arrears to just two points with a 40-metre penalty.

Hawcoat had wasted a few chances to score, but they managed to take one of their opportunities and move back into the lead with five minutes of the first half remaining.

It came from a quickly-taken line-out from Adam Williamson, who found Martin Kennedy while Rochdale’s forwards were still walking back and he fed Richard Dalton to score, with his son Joe converting to give the hosts a 17-12 lead at the break.

With the wind now at their backs, Park extended their lead when a loose ball out wide was snapped up by Joe Dalton, who then converted his own try in the 55th minute.

The visitors didn’t go quietly, however, and gave themselves renewed hope when one of their forwards powered through the Hawcoat defence all too easily for a converted score.

It looked at this point like Rochdale were going to snatch it, but replacement Dave Wynne eventually sealed the victory for the Maroon and Whites.

After already being ignored during a supporting run, Wynne was able to burst on to the ball and leave the would-be tacklers trailing to score his team’s fourth try of the afternoon.

The result kept Park fifth in the North West Intermediate League Division Four North table with one fixture remaining, which comes away to Thornton Cleveleys 2nd XV on April 20.