BEN Reynolds delivered a playmaking master class to inspire Featherstone Rovers to a morale-boosting 32-16 Betfred Championship win over Halifax Panthers at Post Office Road.
Reynolds kicked 12 points – three conversions and three penalties – and had a creative handin four of Rovers’ five tries, never putting a foot wrong as he steered Rovers to a vital victory.
Gareth Gale (2), Connor Wynne, Brad Day and James Glover all grabbed tries to help Rovers to what became a comfortable win which handed Halifax their fifth defeat on the bounce.
If Rovers wanted to continue their progress towards the play-off places, they needed to turn the tables on Halifax after a poor display saw them slump to a comprehensive 38-12 defeat at The Shay just over a month earlier.
Looking for a positive response from his players after a sub-par 24-22 home win over bottom-of-the-table Hunslet last time out, Paul Cooke made changes to his starting line-up with Olpherts dropping out of the 17-man match day squad.
Hardcastle came in on the left wing with Gale moving back on to the other wing, Wynne named at centre alongside Glover and new loan signing Pat Moran came on to the bench.
Kicking up the hill in the first half, Rovers made a solid start putting together tenacious defensive sets as Halifax tried to get on the scoreboard early until Crooks touched down in the seventh minute with Hansen adding the conversion.
Rovers hit back after 14 minutes with Reynolds the architect, his long pass toHardcastle drawing the Halifax defence in and Hardcastle put Gale over in the corner. Reynolds converted from wide out to make it 6-6.
But Halifax scored again on 32 minutes when they stretched the Rovers defence down the left for Saltonstall to step over in the corner for an unconverted try.
Wynne hauled Rovers level with a trademark touchdown, He sidestepped two defenders on the inside after Glover picked him out and Reynolds converted to give Rovers a two-point lead.
Reynolds then added a penalty on the stroke of half-time to send Rovers in leading 14-10 at the interval.
Halifax came out meaning business at the start of the second half and a powerful line-break from Crooks and his inside ball left Hansen with an easy finish under the posts with the Rovers defence posted missing. Hansen converted.
Reynolds pegged the score back to make it all-square again with a penalty awarded for a high tackle which had Rovers’ supporters baying unsuccessfully for a yellow card.
Reynolds then put Day in for a try in the 56thminute to mark his 100th appearance for Rovers and Reynolds converted to give the home side a valuable six-point lead.
Gale touched down in the right corner to round off great work from Hampshire and Reynolds, who notched the conversion, to stetch Rovers’ lead to ten points with 17minutes left to play.
From there, Rovers managed the game well, completing their defensive sets to keep Halifax at arm’s length in the closing stages, forcing Halifax into a string of handling errorsin their increasing desperation to fight their way back into the contest.
And Glover put the icing on the cake for Rovers, picking up Crooks’ dropped ball on the left 15 metres into Rovers’ half to romp over unchallenged in the corner right on the hooter.
Man of the match: Jimmy Beckett. The workaholic Beckett’s performance – full of ball-carrying endeavour and tenacious tackling- saw him lead from the front from the off, providing go-forward ball-in-hand and leadership by example on defensive duties, particularly in an unbroken 60-minute stint before he was subbed off for a well-earnedbreather.
Featherstone Rovers: Aekins, Hardcastle, Glover, Wynne, Reynolds, Hampshire, Vuniyayawa, Jubb, Beckett, Day, Webb, Addy.
Interchanges: Jones, Moran, Wilder, Springer.
Halifax Panthers: Nofoaluma, Crooks, Johnson, Saltonstall, Woodburn Hall, Hansen, Douglas, Inman, Calcott, McCarron, Tangata, Jobe.
Interchanges: O’Brien, Tupaea, Fairbank, Cowen.
Referee: Matthew Lynn