LIVERPOOL St Helens just about hung on to their unbeaten record in South Lancashire/Cheshire One winning a remarkable encounter 33-31 at Anselmians.

Showing great strength of character they turned a topsy-turvy performance into a winning one in dramatic fashion to record their eleventh consecutive victory.

After fifty five minutes they had eased into a 26-7 lead only to find themselves losing 31-26 nearly twenty minutes later, playing uphill against a rampant Anselmians side having just scored three tries in quick succession.

Pinned well into their own half it took an excellent lineout steal from Mark Devine, one of a number from the experienced packman throughout the afternoon, to spark a charge up field through a series of breaks and drives until the try-line came into range.

A speculative kick sent the ball into the Anselmians dead ball area and amidst a flurry of anxious arms and legs centre Andrew Rawsthorne, on his first appearance for LSH, got the vital touch to level the scores at 31-31.

Greg Smith made no mistake with the tricky conversion put to LSH 33-31 in front with just five minutes to go.

The game was far from over as Anselmians roared back down the slope to pressure the LSH defence with Simon Mason’s deadly boot hovering menacingly behind the attacking line.

The home side drove forward to set up one chance for Mason, surprisingly from wide out and the travelling Moss Lane faithful watched joyfully as the ball drifted just wide of the posts. One more play and the game was over.

It had all started so well for a weakened LSH side, 5-0 up before the home team had touched the ball when John Pape, filling in at Scrum half, combined well with Ian Stanley to send the full back in for the opening try.

Pape notched the second try himself after fifteen minutes when he twisted and turned his way through a posse of would be tacklers to score, converted by Smith.

LSH went further ahead eight minutes later when Phil Kearns finished off a powerful eight man shove, Smith converting. Anselmians hit back before the break with a converted try from close range for a half time score of 7-19.

LSH extended the lead with a second try from Ian Stanley, converted by Smith, before it all started going wrong.

Helped by some poor handling and unfortunate decision-making they ran in three converted tries to take the lead at 28-26 before Mason added a penalty in the 72nd minute to extend the lead to 31-26.

And so, a game which saw a decent performance from debutant Josh Grundy on the wing; an excellent comeback display from Connor Charlton; a non-stop full shift from James Burrows and yet another outstanding exhibition from Phil Kearns; was somehow rescued by LSH for a win. On Saturday the two unbeaten teams in the League, LSH and Altrincham Kersal play each other at Moss Lane. Kick off 2.15.