Wath Brow Hornets suffered a major setback in their efforts to go second in the National Conference Premier Division.

They probably knew they were up against it when they left west Cumbria for West Hull with a weakened squad of players.

Former Whitehaven favourite Leroy Joe was acting as player-coach and it did not help the Hornets cause when he was sent-off for striking.

Mark Cox was also dispatched to the sin bin and, in what seemed a feisty game, West Hull also had two players in the bin.

Mind you, given the circumstances, Wath Brow would probably have settled for the score just after the change round when they only trailed 16-10.

But, in a nightmare second half for the Brow, they just fell sharply out of contention.

It was 16-6 at half-time but, when Dale Bell nipped over on 42 minutes for an unconverted try, Wath Brow had hope.

That was their last addition to the scoreline as their spirited earlier effort became a distant memory as West Hull ran away with the game.

Andrew Bulman, Wath Brow’s man of the match had scored the first-half try, converted by Matt Sibbald.

Kells and Egremont, however, both returned to winning ways.

Although Pilkington Recs started and finished well at Kells, it was the home side who emerged victorious by 25-18.

There was no “still on the bus” syndrome for the St Helens side who scored two tries in the first six minutes.

Jon Frodsham and Ian Stanley crossed the home line and Greg Smith converted one.

The early setbacks seemed to galvanise Kells and by half-time they had established a 22-10 lead. Ross Gainford, David Lowery, Tyrone Dalton and Grant McLoughlin scored tries, three of them converted by Dominic Wear.

There was some fight left in Pilks as they hit back in the second half with two tries in quick succession from Jake Hodson.

It was getting too close for comfort but Wear gave his side more breathing space by kicking a penalty and landing a drop goal.

Egremont are out of the bottom three again with a comfortable 38-10 home win over Myton Warriors.

Life was made a little easier for Egremont as Myton travelled without several regulars.

But you still have to beat what’s put in front of you and Egremont were tidy in most of what they did all the game.

Although Matty Bewsher scored the first try of the game for Egremont, the visitors did lead briefly on 17 minutes with a try by Wes Newton, converted by Ash James.

But by half-time, Egremont had dashed into an 18-6 lead with two tries from Matty Henson and three goals by Bewsher.

Soon after the restart, Kevin Thompson scored two tries and he was followed over by Kieran Glenn and Leon Crellin. Bewsher tacked on two more goals.

Liam Ward scored an unconverted try for Myton six minutes from the end, but it was only a consolation addition to their total.