NORTH WALES CRUSADERS returned to winning ways with an impressive 42-6 victory over Coventry Bears at The Queensway Stadium.

With the Wrexham-based side looking to stay in the fight for the League One play-off places, they secured a vital victory running seven tries past the Bears.

The home side started quickly, opening the scoring with just two minutes gone. After putting pressure on the Coventry defence, Tommy Johnson crashed over the line to score for Anthony Murray’s side.

Coventry looked to hit back moments later as they played on the last tackle and looked to have caused problems for the Crusaders defence before Johnson gathered a grubber kick to take possession back.

Minutes later the Crusaders doubled their advantage. Breaking from a scrum deep inside their own half, Alex Thompson sent Ollie Ashall clear down the wing to score.

With 28 minutes on the clock the hosts crossed for their third try as a well executed move saw Jordan Case send Johnson over for his second of the afternoon.

As the half entered its final five minutes the Crusaders were reduced to 12 men with Steven Roper seeing yellow for a high-tackle.

Making use of their extra man, the Bears opened their account as they found space out wide for Reece Rance to run the ball over the line in the corner.

Following a slow start to the second-half the Crusaders eventually made their possession count in the 55th minute as Joe Lyons broke before racing to finish the move in the corner, taking the score to 24-6.

Thompson looked to have further extended the hosts’ lead as he crossed the whitewash in the corner only for the effort to be ruled out as he’d strayed into touch before grounding the ball.

The Crusaders did extend their advantage minutes later as the ball was shifted along the line quickly before Thompson sent Ashall over in the corner for his second of the match.

With the final ten minutes approaching, the home side extended their lead to 30 points as they kept the ball alive with Dale Bloomfield finishing the move in the corner.

The Welsh outfit added another as Aaron Moore crashed over from close range to take the final score to 42-6.

West Wales Raiders were thrashed again, 86-0 by Hunslet while Bradford Bulls hammered Hemel Stags 68-0.

Workington beat Newcastle Thunder 38-18 and Keighley edged past London Skolars 26-18.