SEDGLEY Tigers roared back to winning ways with a thumping 59-7 victory against winless Scunthorpe at Park Lane – including nine tries for seven different scorers.

It was exactly the response called for by assistant coach Steve Hazzelby and signed off their home fixtures for 2019 in style in front of 450 fans.

But while the scoreline suggests a comfortable afternoon for the Whitefield-based outfit, they had to work hard against a Scunthorpe side who may have lost every match so far in National Two North, but have always fought bravely in each and every outing.

And they did so again at the weekend, having more of the play in the opening exchanges

But Sedgley managed to break the deadlock 20 minutes in when, following several phases, Elliot Crowe crossed the line and the conversion, the first of seven out of nine successful kicks, went over the posts for Oli Glasse.

Scunthorpe still had a lot of the play and hit back with an excellent try of their own.

The ball was recycled from a line-out drive and senior debutant Ethan Heath-Drury ran a good line outside Tom Foster, to cut through the middle of the home defence for a try close to the posts and Paul Cook added the extras on 25 minutes.

However, parity would not last for long as two minutes later, the Tigers were back in front.

They returned a poor clearance kick that was not backed up by any constructive chase, and Glasse scored before kicking a successful conversion to restore the hosts’ seven-point advantage.

Sedgley added another try in the in the 35th minute through Leon Simpson, but Glasse failed to add the extras and so the teams went into the interval with Sedgley 19-7 in front.

After a battle in the first half, Sedgley came out gunning for more points and it was a second-half of domination with six unanswered tries for the home side.

They extended their lead eight minutes after the restart when the home pack drove over for Ben Black to score. Glasse missed the conversion but was successful when Rob Holloway crossed on 59 minutes.

The visitors were then hit hard when Cook was yellow carded for a high tackle on 61 minutes, and Josh Bird followed him two minutes later for talking too much to referee Ben Davis.

Bob Birtwell added another converted try for Sedgley on 65 minutes.

Then, Jacob Hardy was red carded for allegedly using his knee in the ruck on 67 minutes – a strange decision to onlookers as there was no reaction from the Tigers and the referee only made his decision after discussion with his assistant.

Now down to 12 players, Scunthorpe were really up against it and it was no wonder Sedgley took full advantage and ran in several tries. Black (70 minutes) and Glasse (72 minutes) added their second scores of the day and the scoring was wrapped up by substitute Callum McShane six minutes from time.

It was harsh on a hard-working Scunthorpe but the result was deserved for Tigers.