Batley Bulldogs pulled off an impressive comeback win from 36-12 down to beat Rochdale Hornets, with a 77th minute winner from Tom Lillycrop.
Hornets raced to a 16-0 lead inside 20 minutes after tries from Rob Massam and Warrington Wolves duo Harvey Livett and Benjamin Jullien.
Batley replied through a brace from Macauley Hallett and Sam Smeaton but Rochdale continued to dominate with Lewis Galbraith making it 22-12 to the visitors at the break.
77' TRYYYYYYYY!!!!!!! COME ON BATLEY LILLYCROP IS IN NEXT TO THE POSTS. MOUNT PLEASANT ERUPTS 38-36. pic.twitter.com/fHnC0K9CLB
— Batley Bulldogs RLFC (@BatleyRLFC) April 9, 2017
Matty Hadden and Jack Johnson seemed to have had the game won for the Hornets as they went 36-12 up on 57 minutes but the balance of the game swung as Smeaton and Will Maher scored a quick-fire double for Batley soon after.
A Shaun Ainscough brace then closed the Bulldogs to 32-36 with five minutes to go and then Lillycrop went over to send the Fox’s Biscuits Stadium into raptures.
“The boys showed some character in that last ten minutes to get something out of the game,” said an elated Batley coach Matt Diskin.
“For 70 minutes we didn’t deserve to be in a winning position as we were poor and showed a real lack of respect.”
James Donaldson scored a hat-trick as Hull Kingston Rovers continued their 100% start to the season with a 52-18 win over Swinton Lions.
David Hodgson, Jordan Abdull, Jamie Ellis, Zach Dockar-Clay, Will Oakes, Nick Scruton and Ryan Shaw scored the other tries for Tim Sheens’ side.
The Swinton scorers were Mike Butt and Anthony Bate, whilst Ben White bagged a brace.
Great game from @James_Donaldson today scoring his hat-trick! pic.twitter.com/SIQ16Ny0wL
— Hull Kingston Rovers (@hullkrofficial) April 9, 2017
Toulouse Olympique XIII remain four points behind Roversin second in the Kingstone Press Championship after cruising to a 58-18 win over Oldham on Saturday.
Stan Robin, Gregory White, Johnathon Ford all scored twice for the French side, with Mark Kheirallah, Paul Marcon, Clement Boyer and Bastien Canet also on the scoresheet.
Kieran Gill, Joe Burke and Richard Lepori scored for Oldham.
— Toulouse Olympique (@TOXIII) April 8, 2017
Featherstone Rovers picked up their fourth win in five games to remain third as they defeated London Broncos 38-18.
John Davies, Chris Ulugia (2), Cory Aston, Andy Bostock and Luke Briscoe all scored tries for Jon Shapre.
Jarrod Sammut, Vitale Roqice and James Cunningham scored for the Broncos.
Bradford Bulls are now up to -2 points after they eased to a 48-16 win over Sheffield Eagles at Odsal.
James Bentley scored four tries for the Bulls, whilst Ethan Ryan, Ross Oakes, Daniel Murray and Johnny Campbell also went over for Bradford.
Ben Blackmore scored twice for the Eagles and Will Hope got the third try.
Impressive comeback from @BatleyRLFC, plus all of this weekend's results in the @KingstoneCider Championship â¬‡ï¸ pic.twitter.com/TCEmZn4WKz
— Championships-RL (@RLChampionships) April 9, 2017
Bradford are just two points behind Dewsbury Rams now, who are still without a win after nine rounds following a 34-6 defeat at Halifax.
James Salton Stall, Simon Grix, Rob Worrincy, Steve Tyrer (2) and Adam Tangata all scored for Fax.
