NORTHWICH made their first visit to Warrington’s new home and returned with a 33-22 bonus point win.

The Blacks were under no illusion that this was going to be a fiercely fought contest and that they would have a real fight on their hands.

Five minutes in some sleight of hand from Mike Bradshaw in the tackle put Richard Dale in the gap from half way to score under the sticks.

Nick Baldwin added the extras.

Warrington replied with a penalty and continued to apply the pressure and a yellow card for man of the match Phil Williams gave the home side an attacking lineout,

From there they launched an attack to score a converted try to take the lead.

After the Blacks had stolen a Warrington lineout there was a concerted charge and Williams crossed the line for an unconverted try to regain the lead.

Northwich took control in stoppage time and Warrington conceded a penalty try following the immense pressure bringing the half lead to 19-10 lead.

With the wind at their backs Northwich took the initiative and scored two tries in the opening 20 minutes both converted by Baldwin. The first followed some great work by James followed by an excellent pass from Bradshaw who once again provided Richard Dale with the opportunity to score.

The second saw some quick hands to James who needed no invitation to score a well deserved try.

At this point you would have expected Warrington to capitulate, instead they threw everything at the Blacks.

Sheer pressure gave Warrington a deserved try as the match entered the last 10 minutes.

Warrington continued to ask questions of the Blacks defence and finally got their reward with a converted try as the match entered stoppage time.

This was a highly charged contest with both sides receiving three yellow cards and a sense of relief to Martin Poste that there were no injuries.

Poste will have been pleased with the performance, in particular Maddocks and Bradshaw who were always on hand to carry the ball and have the scars to prove it.

On Saturday Northwich entertain Bowdon, kick off 2.15pm.

1 Mike Bradshaw 2 Chris James 3 Joe Maddocks 4 Chris Heywood 5 Patrick Fray 6 Chris Dale 7 Tom Clark 8 Phil Williams 9 Matthew Poste 10 Nick Baldwin 11 Shaun Burma 12 Sam Naylor 13 Scott Davidson 14 Richard Dale 15 Tom Husbands 16 Kyle Clarke 17 Mark Thompson 18 James Wood