NORTHWICH came out on the right side of a tough home encounter with Altrincham Kersal, despite missing a few regulars.
With the challenging weather during the week, it seemed unlikely the match would get underway but the stirling work put in by Ian Grassby ensured the 33-24 win went ahead.
Tom Clark, Damola Ayanlaja-Lowo, Juan Smit and Gihard Visagie were among the absentees but the return of Levy Nzoungou was well received.
The 43-14 victory at AK in the opening match of the season suggested this may be a comfortable match for Northwich but nobody told the visitors.
Blacks opened the scoring after Rory Leijdekkers broke away and following an interchange with Hurjo Besuidenhout, Leijdekkers scored the opening try for Alex Speakman to convert.
Within five minutes parity was restored when AK moved the ball wide following an attacking lineout and scored a converted try.
Fifteen minutes later the home side regained the lead after a great pass from Jonathan Knipe released Toby Moss, who found Besuidenhout in support to score a try that was converted by Alex Speakman.
Three minutes into the second half, Quinlan Watson went on an unstoppable run to score a try that went unconverted.
On the 50th minute, Northwich mounted an attack close to the visitors’ line and with play between the posts Nat Stafford went ‘route one’ to score.
At this point it looked like Northwich may run away with the match, but AK responded with tries in the 55th and 67th minutes. Neither try was converted leaving Blacks with a nine-point lead.
The nerves were beginning to show within both teams, but Northwich settled first when some neat work from Watson allowed him to release Tim Balogun to score, with Speakman converting.
With the match entering stoppage time AK continued to press and were rewarded with a bonus-point try which was duly converted.
This was a great contest for the neutral that was a credit to both sets of players.
The Northwich coaching team will have been delighted with the intensity but will be looking for more accuracy.
Notable players were Nzoungou, Jonathan Knipe and man-of-the-match Thansville Mayman who showed everyone why his nickname is Tank.
Northwich travel to Burnage on Saturday, kick-off 2.15pm.
