MATT Riley marked his 300th league appearance for Sedgley Tigers with a man-of-the-match display in a 45-29 victory at home to previously unbeaten Hinkley.

The Park Lane outfit bounced back from their first defeat of the National Two North season, at South Leicester the previous weekend, with seven tries in the bonus-point win.

Riley’s strong running was the driving force, according to general manager Geoff Roberts, after he scored one try and set up two others before the break.

“He was a real talisman for the side in the opening 20 minutes,” said Roberts, after his side recovered from conceding a try in only the second minute to run in three of their own in the opening quarter of an hour.

“Matt was everywhere on the park and made everything tick.

“He really got us underway, if you like.

“His strong run helped us break through their lines for our opening try, laying off to Tom Bedlow to go over, then he managed to finish one off to put us in front after a similar burst.

“And he also had a hand in Danny Maher’s score for our fourth try.”

Bedlow levelled for Sedgley in the fourth minute before Riley’s try put the Tigers in front inside 10 minutes.

Hinkley added a penalty to claw it back to 14-10 but tries from Callum McShane and Maher saw the home side open up an 18-point lead by the half-hour mark.

All four tries were converted by Steve Collins, but the number 10 was later sin-binned and Hinkley capitalised with two tries either side of the break to bring the score back to 28-22.

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Sedgley regrouped, however, and two tries from Andy Riley in the second half, either side of another for Bedlow, put the game out of Hinkley’s reach by the time they ran in the final try of the afternoon with three minutes to play.

The Tigers’ reward for a third win out of four matches is a trip to unbeaten Tynedale, who are second in the table after kicking off their campaign with four straight victories.

“We seem to be getting all the top teams out of the way early doors,” added Roberts.

“We have already played three of the top six, and Tynedale will present another tough test.

“Our record at their place is not great. They beat us convincingly last season and while we won their the season before, that is the only victory at Tynedale I can remember in my time here.

“They are a team that never gives up – they always have good ball carriers and runners in support.

“We can expect it to be a fast, open game and, as a I said, a very tough test, especially taking into account the start they have had and where they are in the table.”

Sedgley are fourth, four points behind Tynedale and five behind early leaders Stourbridge.