A couple of injuries to either side, and a tight scoreline was a good indication of the sort of match played between the two sides, with Dale scoring one more try than Hoppers.

Preston got on the scoreboard first, when Josh Ree slotted his kick with ease after some early sustained pressure won a penalty under the posts.

After 15 minutes, Hoppers had their first try. Hoppers continued to put the pressure on and after winning an advantage, Greg Smith dinked a free ball under the posts, and captain Ally Murray was the first to get there, diving on the ball to score his second try in two weeks.

Both sides continued to defend well, keeping the match tight, and not allowing either team many chances to attack or slip through.

But eight minutes from time, Rob Baldwin scored for Dale after several phases at the pick and drive saw him eventually power over.

Preston pushed back immediately, and after Scott Richardson was held up just moments before, they extended their lead on half time when Harry Holden powered over from close range after the maul pushed its way up to the line.

Wharfdale scored next after half time, the two centres, who were starting to find a bit more space through the defence, combined well to get the side up to the try line, before Oliver Riddiough made his way over after finding a gap.

20 minutes from time, and Dale had taken the lead for the first time, Louis Verity getting the ball out wide after a scrum, before slipping through the defence to score.

Hoppers had chances to win, even going over once again before the referee deemed it held up, but the match ended in frustration for the home side as they fell just short.

Head Coach Dan Orwin couldn’t quite figure out how they came away with a loss.

“I don’t know how we lost that match to be honest,” said Orwin.

“We weren’t happy with a lot of the refereeing decisions out there, particularly with some high shots, but from our point of view we can’t blame the referee.

“We had chances to win but we weren’t accurate enough at times still.

“I can’t fault the effort in the squad today, they put absolutely everything into that, and for whatever reason it wasn’t our afternoon which is frustrating.”