Connor McDermott led the improving Hindpool Tigers scoring romp with four of their eight tries as they continued their rise up the NWML table with an emphatic 46-6 win over Wigan St Patricks A.

With the Wigan side struggling to keep pace, the free-scoring centre, aided and abetted by the half-back pairing of Connor Goodings and Paul Rickleton snapped up his chances, that included a nine-minute hat-trick either side of half-time.

It was St Pats who took an early lead with a converted try by full-back Jake Alder, but once the Tigers got into their stride they were never in serious danger of defeat.

Long spells of pressure eventually brought reward for Hindpool in the 25th minute when Rickleton shrugged off a string of would-be tacklers to score a solo try to level the scores.

Five minutes before the break, McDermott ran on to a smart kick from Goodings to touch down and then, almost on the stroke of half-time, his second try was virtually all his own work and the Tigers had an interval lead of 18-6.

With the wind at their backs, St Pats might have been expecting life to get easier. Instead, the second half was only three minutes old when McDermott struck again with the try that knocked much of the spirit out of the visitors.

Quick-fire tries from Josh Bayliss and Connor Goodings took Hindpool out of reach but they were far from finished.

Six minutes from time, a Rickleton kick ahead was collected by McDermott and there was no stopping the free-scoring centre as he raced in for his fourth.

A long-range try from Johnny Griffiths rounded off a near perfect afternoon for the Tigers.

In the National Conference League, Barrow Island took an under-strength side on the long trip to Hull – and pulled off their best win of the season in beating the Dockers 22-20.

Missing several key players from the side that won at Warrington a week earlier, Island fell behind to an early Hull try but by half-time they had turned things around and built up a 14-6 lead thanks to tries from Ryan Clegg and Matty Brown, both converted by Sam Jones.

A Joe Mallinson try and Jones conversion stretched that to 20-6 before Dockers rallied and tries from Kyle Larvin, Craig Cook and David Palmer squared things up before a Jones penalty clinched the points for the visitors.

The victory – achieved thanks to a superb defensive play in which Carl McBain and Mallinson led from the front – enabled Island to leapfrog their Humberside opponents into the top four.

Also on the road, Askam could not follow up last week’s impressive display against Dudley Hill and found league leaders Ince Rose Bridge too hot to handle. The 54-24 defeat left them rooted at the foot of the table, while Millom earned themselves a point in a 24-24 draw in the Cumbrian derby at Hensingham.