BURY Broncos' second string showed great spirit to fight back from 16 points down to draw 28-28 at home to Halton A.

They even had a chance to win it after Sean Kelly's last-gasp try levelled the match, but after the scorer lined up the conversion he was unable to make the extras in what turned out to be the last kick of the game.

The visitors, who started the day four places above Broncos in Division Five of the North West Men's League, stormed into a 10-0 lead with two early tries.

Kelly countered with the first of what would turn out to be a hat-trick of tries on the day, taking the offload from Liam Sixsmith after he had broken Halton's defensive line and drawn their full-back.

But the visitors added another two converted tries either side of the break to open up a 22-6 lead.

To their credit, Broncos dug in and after the forwards had created a platform, Mike Carter steamed on to the ball, taking a couple of defenders over the line with him to start the fight back.

Kelly added the extras as the Broncos, who play at Philips High School, seized the initiative.

Full-back Liam Sixsmith got them to within four points with another converted try, beating three defenders to score, only for Halton pull away again with a try seven minutes from time after taking advantage of a mistake following a grubber kick.

It looked as if that was it for the home side, but Kelly thought otherwise and after taking a quick tap and go penalty the scrum half ran through the retreating Halton defence to score.

Not done yet, he added his third try of the game with two minutes left on the clock, breaking the Halton line and then holding off the covering defender to level the scores.

And while he was unable to cap a fantastic personal display with the winning kick Kelly rightly took the plaudits at the final whistle.

Elsewhere, the club's under-14s side enjoyed a tremendous 60-4 win in their second game of the Silver Salver Trophy, seeing off unbeaten Chorley Panthers in fine style.