Local rivals Brighouse Rangers bent the rules to try and defeat their neighbours Whitehall Warriors by not having their I.D. cards. The Warriors, with local pride at stake, could have claimed the match by default but instead played this derby march.

The early exchanges were fierce and luckily for Whitehall they had a referee, Eddie Okulicz, who wasn’t afraid to control the game as it should be played and he sin-binned 3 Brighouse players in the first 10 minutes. The disciplined Whitehall players have come across their type of intimidating tactics all season and very few referees have had the guts to stamp it out. Whitehall’s Ollie Dugdale kicked the penalty goal from this first unsavoury incident to give the Warriors an early 2 point lead.

Gaz Simpson finished a terrific 6 man handling move to score in the corner but was adjudged to have collected a forward pass, which denied the Warriors.

However the determined Simpson, who was a handful for the Brighouse defencders all evening, was there to collect an excellent Baz Stead pass to crash over in the corner, Ollie Dugdale brilliantly converted the extra 2 points.

Brighouse, frustrated by Whitehall’s determination, continued with more foul play and David Spivey punished them with another penalty goal. Whitehall’s pack were taking the brunt of the Rangers aggressive tackling but Richard Casanove, Stuart Syme and Pete Williams never took a backward step.

More high shots followed and Spivey once again kicked the resulting penalty goal.

Man of the Match, Rhys Brown, co-centre Paul Barraclough and Andy Clay sent the ball spinning down the line for wingman Simpson to race in at the corner and give the Warriors a 16-0 lead.

On the stroke of half time, Brighouse hooker, Chris Gregg, used his strength to force his way over from close range to keep his team in the game, Daz Williams converted the goal.

The second half was just as fierce as the first and Chris Gregg and Daz Williams were always at the core of all Brighouse’s attacks and used their strong running forwards Houlihan, Bottomley and Barton to their full potential.

Whitehall had lost Andy Green, Ollie Dugdale and Simon Howland through injury but their replacements Daniel Raika, Andy Johnson and Andy Clay stepped in admirably.

Brighouse were now playing some very good rugby but were repelled time and again with Stuart Syme, Pete Williams and David Spivey leading the defence.

With Brighouse now concentrating on playing rugby instead of conceding penalties they set up a nail-biting finale by scoring a well worked try bringing the score to 16-10 with 6 minutes remaining.

Gregg and Williams led the final Brighouse assault but the Warriors Sadler, Crawshaw, Clay and Raika were equal to task but were pleased to hear the final whistle.

Whitehall now face Boothtown Terriers on Saturday 21^st April in the Semi-Final of the Handicap Cup and will have to call on their reserves due to several bad injuries sustained during this match.

The Warrios have 2 home league matches remaining and if they win both will clinch the Division 4 title. The need to beat Sharlston on Wednesday evening 25^th April to ensure promotion and finally Slaithwaite, who are currently heading the table, on Saturday 28^th April.