Walshaw's brace helps Dewsbury to derby glory

dewsbury rams v batley bulldogs lucas walshaw dewsbury james harrison & james brown batley

It was Bulldogs who took an early lead, when forward Bradley Day went over for a try, but Pat Walker couldn’t add the goal.

Dewsbury hit back on 14 minutes when forward Lucas Walshaw touched down and Paul Sykes added the extras.

But Ali Leake restored Batley’s lead three minutes later with a try and this time Walker could add the extras and that was the end of the first-half scoring.

Whatever Rams coach Neil Kelly said to his men at the break, it certainly did the trick as they came out and produced a strong second 40 minutes.

Centre Adam Ryder scored on 46 minutes, with Sykes improving and from there Dewsbury didn’t look back.

Winger Gareth Potts claimed a try on 52 and then Walshaw bagged his second 10 minutes later, with Sykes, who missed a crucial kick against Sheffield the week before, converting both.

Rams forward Michael Knowles added a drop goal (75), which sparked a bit of a revival for the visitors who scored two tries in a minute.

First, Alex Bretherton found his way to the line (76), but Walker again missed the conversion, before Walker himself touched down and managed to add the goal, but Kelly’s men held out for a precious two points at their old rivals’ expense.