HOYLAKE extended their unbeaten run even further against mid-table St Edward's Old Boys in the South Lancs/ Cheshire 2 league fixture, despite having to make several changes through injury or work commitments.

Martin Williams, Paul Ashcroft, Dan Gleeson and Nick McCormack were all absent

Despite the disruption, the Red, White and Greens began the match extremely well with the forwards taking the ball on and the backs breaking tackles, seemingly at will.

After countless phases of play, the ball was fed out by Morris to Baldock with an over-lap on the short-side. Baldock intelligently delayed his pass as the St Edward's defenders loitered in an offside position.

Eventually he fed Ben Flint who passed inside to Stephen Young who just squeezed inside the corner flag to register the first points of the match.

Only minutes later, Richard Young made a powerful break through the middle. As he reached the halfway line, he opted for the up-and-under that caused confusion in the home side's ranks.

As the ball bobbled deep in their 22, Stephen Young pounced again to collect the ball and score his second of the match within the opening 10 minutes.

At 10-0, Hoylake were cruising. The front five had begun the match in impressive fashion, making plenty of ground from the line-outs.

Phil James, Steve Butterworth and Dan Miller were enjoying plenty of possession and looked powerful going forward. Concerted pressure resulted in a penalty that Simon Robinson converted to extend the lead to 13-0.

With some 20 minutes remaining in the half, the referee's whistle needlessly began to dominate the fixture.

Hoylake were repeatedly penalised for offside and surrendered possession on several occasions.

With St Edwards enjoying their first real period of possession and territory, the trademark, tenacious Hoylake defensive work was again displayed. Mike Young was everywhere, causing problems for the opposition backs and yet again the tackling of James and Mark Wylie was hugely impressive.

The visitors weathered the storm and just before half-time were awarded a scrum five metres from the St Edward's line.

A back row move was well defended on the short side but scrum half Morris managed to take the ball going backwards and weave his way over the line to give Hoylake an 18-0 advantage going into the second half.

The next 40 minutes was a more even affair, with intense pressure leading to Rob Kurton passing to Dan Miller who sprinted the remaining 10 metres, breaking a tackle, to score the decisive try. Robinson converted to give Hoylake an unassailable 25-0 lead.

Full credit to the home side though. They scored a good try under the posts as their inside centre finally beat the under-standably weary Hoylake defence.

Soon after though, another clean take in the lineout was powerfully driven on by the forwards. Second-row James burst through the middle of the rolling maul and charged 25 metres bouncing off several tackles before touching down to complete the scoring.

Next week, Hoylake travel to Ashton-on-Mersey seeking revenge for the surprising defeat sustained in the corresponding fixture last year that all but ended Hoylake's promotion aspirations.