LIVERPOOL St Helens triumphed 47-36 in an incident packed encounter against Hoylake to maintain their unbeaten record and remain in second position in South Lancashire/Cheshire One.

A proper sporting encounter although nowhere near a classic, produced 13 tries, seven from LSH and six from the hosts, on an afternoon when the busiest man was the scoreboard operator. LSH took the lead when sharp-witted Jake Hodson took a quick tap penalty in front of the Hoylake posts and dived over, Greg Smith converting.

Hoylake responded by being awarded a penalty try. LSH continued to press and regained the lead through flanker James Burrows after a series of pick and gos down the right flank, Smith converted.

They went further ahead five minutes later after good work from Smith and Alex McClurg, set up Matt Cunliffe to run over to score, Smith converted for a 21-7 lead.

Hoylake immediately put LSH under pressure again resulting in a series of scrums before scoring from close range through prop Matt O’Neil.

With three minutes left in the half there was still more to come from both sides when Smith followed up his own speculative kick through the middle before scoring under the posts and then converting his own try. In keeping with the tempo of the game the home side replied immediately through Mark Wylie nipping through a gap to score, converted by Lavin for a 19-28 score at half time.

Hoylake struck early in the second half with a try from Ian Griffiths converted by Lavin. LSH hit back when good carries from Mark Fryer and Mario Bonati were continued by a strong run from Joe Bate enabling Burrows to dart over for his second try, Smith converted. LSH went further ahead on the hour mark when Hodson scored a replica of his first try by scooting over after taking a quick tap penalty, Smith converted.

Then a rarity. A 15 minute passage of play without a score until the seventy fifth minute when Hoylake, completely belying their position at the bottom of the league, scored again when Connor Bennett picked up on an LSH handling error to run 20 yards to touch down. Alex McClurg, having a fine game, combined well with Matt Cunliffe enabling the centre to score his second try of the game.

Smith missed the conversion but his previous six successes, in the final analysis, were to prove crucial. Hoylake got a consolation try from Dan Lewis, converted by Lavin.