Sandbach recovered from the hiccup against Leigh by beating in form Widnes at Bradwall Road. Liverpool St Helens were also good winners against visitors Broughton Park while Vale of Lune ran in 4 tries against much fancied Northwich who look jaded away from Moss Farm. The first draw of the season in this league occurred at Aspatria where visitors Anselmians took away a couple of points. Carlisle beat Wilmslow and move to within a point of the days opponents and just above the relegation places. Last week Leigh beat Sandbach but this week they lost away at Rochdale. The Leigh faithful will reflect upon the slender differences between success and a pointless week-end. Wirral go quietly about their business, and duly recorded a good win at home to Wigton. LSH still lead Sandbach by two points but Widnes and Northwich fall away. Carlisle climb out of the bottom three after their third win in the last four fixtures.

Aspatria 14-14 Anselmians
This was as tight as they come. The visitors had a lot of early territory but it was Aspatria who scored when winger Tinnion went blind-side to cross after a catch and drive. Anselmians continued to control, with the elements in their favour, and centre Mafe found a gap to score to bring the scores level. An exchange of penalties brought the half to a close with Clegg landing a prodigeous penalty against the howling wind with no time left. Simon Mason, back from injury, had notched the Saints 3 pointer. HT 8-8. Aspatria might have expected to dominate the second half and their forwards did indeed exert pressure but without reward. It was Anselmians who broke from defence to press the home line and force a penalty in front of the posts. Mason knocked it over to lead 8-11. Clegg levelled with a long distance penalty. Mason knocked another over and once again -with no time left on the clock -Clegg equalised 14-14. It will be interesting to see if Simon Mason's return will herald a change in the fortunes of this Saints side.

Carlisle 17-0 Wilmslow
The Carlisle connections will be satisfied that they took the points on the day but reports suggest that they might have had more. Carlisle went into the second half just 5-0 ahead after their big lock Rowlandson scored an unconverted try. Wilmslow are a side that could be expected to take full advantage of a second half wind advantage but not so. It was Martin Brodie on the Carlisle wing who extended the lead for the Warwick Road side and then Rowlandson repeated his first half party-piece by carrying several defenders across the chalk to record his second, and Carlisles third try. Weightman converted to give his side quite a convincing win. Simon Little was back in the centres for Carlisle and perhaps his experience helped to calm down and settle colleagues. Wilmslow, like several other sides, are sruggling away from home but they need to consider their options now as they are now just a point ahead of their hosts and far too close to the bottom spots for comfort.
Liverpool St Helens 33-7 Broughton Park.
The LSH Director of Rugby will reflect upon their best win over Broughton Park for some years as LSH stretch away from 3rd and 4th places with only Sandbach able to keep up the pace. First half tries by lock Mark Williams, prop Mark Fryer and winger Ian Stanley gave LSH a convincing half time lead of 19-0 and Williams touched down for his second shortly after the break for a bonus. Park came into the game and Titiloye broke blind-side off a maul to score. O'Brien converted but there was lille else for the visitors' faithful to cheer as Cunliffe crashed through for LSH and Worsley notching up his fourth conversion. LSH look set to go the distance this season and they will not be phased by heavier conditions in the Winter months.
Rochdale 25-15 Leigh
This was a difficult match to predict beforehand and Rochdale used home advantage to good effect. Little information in the public domain at present but it will have been a fascinating contest with Leighs big pack and Rochdales fast backs fighting for supremacy. Before this match both sides had registered 8 bonus points from 8 matches. Murphy's Law of course with no bonuses either way on the day.
Sandbach 47-24 Widnes
Sandbach moved through the gears to defeat promotion hopeful's Widnes at Bradwall Road. This was 2nd place versus their nearest challengers and the home side started well and soon had 8 popints on the board after a Davenport converted try and a further Cargill penalty. The dose was then repeated but this time it was Sandbachs Ali Burtron who took advantage of the catch and drive to cross and once again Cargill slotted over the conversion and than added a penalty. The Sandbach backs then combined to run in a fine try with Ben Elliot touching down. For the third time the home side's catch and drive resulted in a try. Ali Burton was once again in the right place to cross. Widnes did manage to go over before the break when Andrew Riley was put into acres of space to score. Sandbach connections have furthered the opinion that Widnes might have had something in their tea at the break. It was more likely to have been a good rollicking because they turned round like a team possesed. Matty Smith for Widnes ran in a hat trick of tries for the visitors in an excellent display of wing play and full back Hewlett for the visitors was causing havoc in the hitherto untroubled Sandbach defence. A measure of composure returned to the home side and nervous twitches among their faithful were replaced by broad smiles as first Elliot took a quick tap and scored before Stockdale ran in the final try of the day. Widnes were possibly unfortunate not to have taken even a losing point back home but Sandbach are proving to be more resilient this term.
Vale of Lune 31-5 Northwich
Yet another case of a team getting beaten on the road against another side that struggle themselves away from home. Northwich went from their biggest win to their heaviest defeat in the space of just 7 days when they were well beaten by 4 try Vale. First choice half back combination of Walding and Gallimore were out injured for the visitors but, to be fair, Vale also have their fair share of injuries. The early stages gave no sign of what was to come as Northwich started strongly but missed a penalty almost in front albeit against the wind. Even when Vale took the lead it was from a fortuitous kick forward and a sideways bounce that allowed the alert James Hodder to score. Woodward converted. Vale then seemed to realise that they had the fire power to win this match and when Woodward kicked a penalty the Vale were fully competing. The days best try followed when a splendid flowing move saw James Curran score well and Moore converted equally as well. HT 17-0. Northwich had the wind behind them now but their pick and go game tactics saw plenty of possession but very little penetration. After phase after phase on the Vale 5m line the Northwich prop Lawrence Cray finally crossed for their only score of the day. The rest of the match was Vale's. A missed tackle allowed No 8 Alex Tudor to power through close to the sticks and Moore converted. At the death Moore scored one of his own and knocked over the extra 2 points. Not many sides score 4 try bonus points against Northwich but Vale were very good value on the day.
Wirral 28-11 Wigton
A good win for Wirral against an improving Wigton side who seem capable of moving into mid table safety. Wigton went ahead through a try by Gregg Smith after a great break from Thomas Gardner. Further opportunities opened up for the visitors but they were unable to take advantage of greater possession and territory and also missed a kickable penalty. Against the run of play Wirral intercepted through Donaldson and after a 50m gallop, Atkinson took over and his offload in the tackle was capitalised upon by scorer Sam Broadbent. Wirral could now start to compete more strongly and prop Chris Hughes scored from broken play with Craig Harvey converting from the touch line. 2 further penalties each in the first half from Harvey and Hanabury and the home side changed over 18-11 ahead. Hanabury was an early departure after a recurring hamstring for Wigton and this loss was compounded when Deans for Wigton was sin-binned after an up-and-under and late tackle. Some debate about whether the lad could not pull out in time but the resultant penalty gave Wirral an easy 3 points. Tim Hodson for Wirral scored after the extra man in the pack took its toll on Wigton and Danny Harvey knocked over a good conversion from the sideline. No fourth try for Wirral but the Wigton defence looks to be quite sound so still a good result.