LIVEROOL St Helens showed a real togetherness and battle hardened spirit against Douglas in the Isle of Man.

It was an outstanding effort given that Coach Andy Northey lost two players at the last minute before flying over, leaving LSH with only one replacement.

In a rather sedate start LSH, who had been warned about the islander’s dominant pack, muscled up really well and regularly made hard yards.

Douglas couldn’t get to grips with the classic ‘pick n go’ and following a sin binning to their prop, Greg Smith orchestrated a neat back line move which allowed Jake Hodson to scuttle in at the far left corner.

The rest of the half was very scrappy and both teams were at fault for some poor handling errors and decision making and the scoreboard was only troubled with a penalty for each team right on half time leaving LSH five points in front.

To say the game came alive in the second half would be a huge understatement! LSH set out with a clear game plan of gaining territory via the boot of Smith and forcing Douglas to play from deep.

This plan worked magnificently on consecutive visits, both times stealing the Douglas lineout and producing a marauding catch and drive with scores going to Chris Houlton and Sam Molyneux, both converted by Dan Filson. 3-22.

Frustratingly, through a mixture of fatigue and poor game management, Douglas got back into the game and began to play with their speedy back line. They scored two tries, one in either corner with Hodson picking up a yellow card for a deliberate knock on sandwiched in between.

Crucially LSH managed to revert back to their tried and trusted method just in time to stop the rot as once again the forwards patiently worked their way through the middle, with Mark Fryer eventually touching down under the sticks, converted by Filson. Refusing to give up, Douglas pressed to create further chances and scored one in bizarre fashion.

Filson appeared to produce an excellent try saving tackle but was deemed to have knocked the ball on deliberately, resulting in the referee awarding a penalty try.

To add further misery a yellow card was also shown leaving LSH with 14 men for the last five minutes.

Thankfully the boys got their hands on the ball and managed to control the game until the last play, allowing Smith to boot the ball off the pitch to give LSH a superbly contested victory.

A notable mention must go to the pack, particularly the front row, who all played the full 80 minutes.

The result left Northey’s team and the travelling support in fine celebratory mood to enjoy the excellent hospitality provided by the Manx hosts.

Next week the Moss Lane outfit take a break from league action with a RFU National Cup (Northern Division) cup game against Cumbrian visitors St Benedict’s at Moss Lane, kick off 2.15.