Crewe & Nantwich RUFC clinched a valuable home victory when they saw off the challenge of Silhillians, 24-19.
Crewe had a couple of late changes with Dan Lawrence starting at 2nd row and Josh Howard at openside. James Wivell switched from back-row to fly-half.
And the hosts were in control at the start, and they took the lead early on.
Hooker Eli Woodward picked up a loose ball on halfway and rampaged down the line into the Silhillians 22.
After several phases, the ball was moved to the left where fly-half Wivell dummied his way through a gap to score to the right of the posts which he then converted.
Crewe added a second score when they won a line-out and centre Tom Roberts crashed through the Silhillians defence.
The ball was moved swiftly to the left to allow full-back Toby Ward (pictured) to score wide out. Wivell slotted over a fine conversion into the cross wind to get the extras for a 14-0 lead.
The hosts were dominant and scored a third try when scrum-half Charlie Hutchings darted through from a quick free kick to put Crewe 19-0 in the lead.
But Silhillians responded well just before the break and scored a late try to make the score 19-5 at half time.
At the start of the second half, Crewe sat back and allowed the visitors to take charge.
They crafted one try to pull the scores back to 19-12 and then capitalised on a dropped Crewe pass which allowed a 50-metre run-in to make it 19-19.
But a shaken home side roused itself and applied pressure on Silhillians.
With 15 minutes left, No 8 Ben Ham won a good line-out on the right by the halfway line and the forwards carried the ball forward through a series of pods.
Finally, the ball was moved to the left and centre Joe Gammage burst through a gap linking with Ward for him to score in the corner and 24-19.
And this time Crewe kept the ball tight in the final minutes and snuffed out any Silhillians counter attacks to earn victory and five points.
Next week Crewe face a tough derby clash away at Stoke, kick off 2.15pm.
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