BURNTWOOD put their setback at Newcastle a week earlier behind them with a 34-21 win at home to Spartans.
They had to come from behind as the visitors enjoyed the better of the first half to lead 14-8 – but the second period was a different story.
The opening ten minutes were fought out in midfield until the first meaningful attack came from the hosts. Connor Brighton made ground down the left before feeding inside to Josh Massey. The attack was halted by a high tackle and Brett Taylor obliged with the penalty goal to start the scoring.
Two minutes later, Brighton and Massey combined again to take play into the visitors’ half, but Spartans turned possession over to launch a counter-attack which needed a fine tackle by Ben Finney to rescue the situation.
A Spartans infringement allowed Ben Holt to kick to the left corner. A well-worked lineout routine saw Luke Rookyard dot down in the corner for an unconverted try after 25 minutes.
Four minutes later, Spartans escaped down the blind side of a ruck to score a try in the clubhouse corner which was excellently converted.
They repeated the feat four minutes later to take the lead and continued to press until half-time but the home defence held with Reece Elliot eventually relieving the siege with a strong run from the base of a scrum.
It only took a minute of the second period for Burntwood to regain the lead. A penalty award was kicked to the clubhouse corner and a textbook catch and drive was finished off by skipper Josh Canning for the try which was converted by Taylor.
There was a repeat performance eight minutes later, but this time it was Elliot who grounded for the try which Taylor converted for 22-14.
Spartans were reduced to 14 men due to a yellow card to make their chances of a comeback more difficult – particularly when Alfie Dewsbury dived over in the right corner for the bonus point try after Billy Fisher’s break in midfield.
Massey’s chip and chase forced the visitors into a goal line drop out. The home backs received possession and combined well across field for Fisher to score wide left and for Taylor to complete Burntwood’s tally with the conversion.
With normal time up, Spartans finally got into home territory with some determined carries. They eventually forced their way over the line for a converted try.
In the limited time remaining, they worked hard for two possible bonus points, but the contest finally ended with a knock-on.