NORTH WALES CRUSADERS required a second-half comeback to beat London Skolars 36-28 and return from the capital with a vital two points.

It looked a familiar story for the Wrexham-based side as they trailed 16-10 at the break largely down to their own errors, but a spirited showing in the second-half ensured that the Crusaders remained above the Skolars in the League One table.

Anthony Murray's men applied some early pressure on London, but they couldn’t make use of their good position, and it was the home side who opened the scoring with just five minutes gone.

On the back of a penalty Michael Greenhalgh crashed over the line on the last tackle to give Skolars the advantage, which could have been doubled, but a dangerous attack was pulled back for a forward pass.

Crusaders found a response with 10 minutes gone as a quick play of the ball set up Jack Houghton, who ran through the London defence to score.

After a period of strong showing in defence, the visitors took the lead. A high-kick to the corner from Joe Lyons was collected by Dale Bloomfield, who offloaded to Houghton to cross for his, and Crusaders, second try of the afternoon.

Having held the Skolars up over the line, the Crusaders’ defence couldn’t hold out sustained pressure from the home side, who crashed over beneath the posts to retake the lead.

London extended their advantage with 10 minutes of the first-half remaining as a cross-field kick from Jermaine Coleman was gathered and grounded to send the hosts into half-time with a 16-10 lead.

Crusaders started the second-half strongly and on the back of consecutive penalties they punished the Skolars as Simon Atherton powered his way over the London line to level the score.

Minutes later the Welsh side took the lead as Alex Thompson drove his way over the whitewash before turning to ground the ball, and he was quickly followed over by Tommy Johnson, who finished off a well-worked Crusaders move to take the score to 28-16 in their favour.

The tight affair continued as London pulled one back through Lamont Bryan, who stepped the Crusaders defence before running the ball over to keep the game alive.

But Crusaders kept their cool, and following a successful penalty goal, the visitors ensured victory with five minutes to go as Kenny Baker powered his way through the Skolars defence taking the score to 36-22.

London weren’t finished there as they found an immediate response through Samuel Kibula, who kicked a loose ball forward before pouncing on it to score, but it was Murray's visitors that held firm to take the points.