In a hard fought contest Lewis Allen opened the scoring for the home side with a penalty before Ryan McKibbin following solid pressure and two penalty line outs stood out at scrum half to take a line out catch from Reece Tomlinson to plough over for the first try. Allen slotting the conversion.

Just before the break Sandal came into contention with a try to close the half with Rossendale 10-5 ahead.

In the second period Allen added a second penalty and with a drive for the line by the pack good hands created the opportunity for Phil Mills to go over for the second to give the home side what looked like a comfortable 18-5 lead.

Sandal had other ideas and in a storming final quarter hit back with a converted try to set up a nailbiting finish, the final try in the corner almost handing the spoils to the Yorkshire outfit fortunately for the home side the attempt drifted wide.

Rossendale have four games remaining and could still finish in the top four with the home game against Hull then way to Lymm looking the most crucial.