A SECOND-half fightback was not enough for Dalton as they fell to a 28-18 defeat away to Brighouse Rangers in Pennine League Division One.

The visitors travelled to Yorkshire in a confident mood after racking up back-to-back wins, but found themselves trailing by 20 points at half time.

Dalton rallied after the break with three tries and narrowly missed out on more as they were unable to overhaul the lead.

Brighouse took the lead with an unconverted try after a close-fought opening 10 minutes, but Dalton were soon back on level terms when hooker Joe Braund-Smith made the most of a gap being created for him to score.

Rangers hit back with a converted try despite the best efforts of Jonathan Walsh in halting an opponent close to the line and then added three further scores to go in 24-4 ahead at the break.

The second half was just five minutes old though when Jack Gedling finished off a move which went through five pairs of Dalton hands out wide.

Brighouse hit back with a further score, yet a powerful drive from the returning Joe Watson then set up Ryan Baines to race away for another unconverted try.

Dalton now had the home side pinned in their half and had a try ruled out when Elliot Jackson was adjudged to have knocked on.

Ryan Johnston did manage to get over though, dotting the ball down from his own kick and chase, followed by Jordan Woodend slotting the conversion.

But Watson saw a score chalked off for a forward pass and young winger Ben Smith was denied by a good covering tackle from the home side as Rangers managed to hold out and take the win.

Dalton now look to shake off that loss when they welcome Crigglestone All Black to Kelland Park this Saturday.