The Warriors began this match in a very determined mood and Stuart Syme, Pete Williams and Alan Bottomley led the initial forwards onslaught.

Half backs Ricky Middleton and Baz Stead found Richard Casanove out wide and he off-loaded to James Spivey for a try in the corner.

More good forward play from Williams, Bottomley and Andrew Johnson took Whitehall to the Littleborough line and Chris Gregg, playing his 1^st match in 12 months, used his forwards as a decoy to go over the line himself.

Ricky Middleton’s goal attempts both sailed wide of the posts.

Whitehall then became over-confident and were needlessly throwing away possession.

Littleborough were the grateful recipients and hit back with 2 converted tries which gave them a flattering 4 point lead.

Andy Sadler and Marcus Gill drove the ball out from under their own sticks and Syme and Williams once again made good yards to the Littleborough line. Whitehall’s Man of the Match, Chris Gregg, sold the sucker punch once again and levelled the scores.

The 2^nd half began with a stalemate for 15 minutes and Ricky Middleton slotted over a 1 pointer drop goal to edge the Warriors in front.

However, Stuart Lockitt restored Littleborough’s lead when he crashed over for a converted try.

This kick-started the Warriors once again and centres Alex Scargill and Chris Scrimshaw worked a set piece move with Baz Stead for Scrimshaw to power over the Littleborough line. Middleton’s only goal of the afternoon gave Whitehall a point lead with 15 minutes remaining.

The Warriors were defending grimly as Littleborough attacked and when Pete Williams protested to ref Lee Gray that a Littleborough player was in touch he awarded a penalty against him for back chat.

This edged Littleborough ahead once again and with time running out Whitehall threw everything into attack but, as often happens, Littleborough got the final try against the run of play to seal a deserved victory.

On Saturday Whitehall are away to league leaders, Slaithwaite Saracens, but will have to play more consistently for 80 minutes if they expect to win.