SOMEHOW Blacks held on to win.

Having fought back to take an unlikely interval lead and build a 15-point cushion, Northwich were hanging on for dear life after two Burnage pushover tries paved the way for a nailbiting finale.

Martin Poste’s side did find a way to keep Burnage at bay for the final seven minutes to secure a first success on the hosts’ 3G surface.

Having suffered defeat at the hands of Douglas the previous Saturday, Blacks, who were without Will Du Randt and welcomed newcomer Regan Stirk to the squad, were keen to return to winning ways.

They made a poor start though.

Burnage set up a multi-phased attack resulting in a well-worked converted try inside three minutes.

From another scrum close to the Blacks line an infringement while desperately trying to stop the Burnage progress resulted in the referee awarding a penalty try.

It seemed to be the spark Northwich needed and they started to respond in kind.

When the Burnage defence failed to retreat Nick Baldwin landed the consequent penalty shot.

Five minutes later a quickly tapped penalty from Matthew Poste allowed him to break the line and place a well-judged kick to the corner for Robin Houghton to collect and drive for the line.

When he was held up James Underhill was on hand to score the try and Baldwin added the extras.

Burnage fought back and after a clearance kick was collected a counter attack was finished off and converted.

As the topsy-turvy nature of the scoring continued Blacks stole an attacking ball and moved it wide to Bud Skinkis who made a telling break polished off by Joel Barber, with Baldwin again converting.

In stoppage time Blacks secured a lineout and moved the ball wide where Barber broke the line for a 29-21 lead at the break.

Within three minutes of the restart Blacks extended their lead.

A quick tap penalty from Poste led to John English crossing and Baldwin improving.

Burnage hearts were broken when Chris Dale picked up a loose ball and ran the length of the pitch to make it 36-21.

Burnage were not finished though and threw everything at the visitors, leading to the two pushover tries in the 64th and 73rd minutes that provided a nervy finale to a thrilling match that showcased the talent in North One West On Saturday Blacks entertain Blackburn, kick off 3pm.

Northwich: Thompson, Lindsay, Lapniewski, Dudley, Heywood, Naylor, Richard Dale, Chris Dale, Poste, Baldwin, Reilly Skinkis, Barber, Underhill, Houghton, Harrison, English, Stirk.