MAXIMUM POINTS ACHIEVED FOLLOWING A TOUGH BATTLE AT SANDAL

Selection:
15 Matthew Hallett 14 Elliott Spiers 13 Joe Morrison 12 Tom Owen 11 Callum Harriott-Brown 10 Chris Johnson 9 Dom Walsh 1 Rondene Johnson 2 Alex McFadden 3 Chris Moore 4 Matt Beasty 5 Fergus Marsden 6 Ollie Haigh 7 Harvey Keighley Payne 8 Ben Stringer 16 Sam Fletcher 17 Jack Pilcher 18 Paul Turner

Report:
It was a Friday evening match for Heath when they travelled over to Wakefield to take on Sandal in this third round of the League encounters. Ollie Haigh had a starting berth with Tom Owen returning from injury, replacing Sam Fletcher who took a turn on the bench alongside Paul Turner and Jack Pilcher. 

Heath kicked off and were quickly into their stride as they went in search of an opening try and when Tom Owen made a break his pass to the supporting Callum Harriott- Brown fell just short and the chance had gone. However, Heath continued to press and from a scrum to the home side the Heath pack turned the screw and Harvey Keighley Payne gathered the ball and went over for a try, convertd by Chris Johnson and a score of 7-0 after six minutes. Sandal responded but Heath were in no mood to concede and from a huge clearance from Johnson they gave chase as the home side had no option but to find touch. Heath won ball and runs from Elliott Spiers, Joe Morrison and Ben Stringer resulted in Sandal conceding a penalty and Chris Johnson obliged with the conversion, 10-0 with ten minutes on the clock.

Sandal were shellshocked but gradually worked their way back into the game but Heath were in no mood to concede and following an intense period of home pressure Chris Moore relieved with a strong run from his own line to gain valuable yardage. On the half hour mark Rondene Johnson and Ollie Haigh, who had put in some solid defence work, were replaced by Paul Turner and Jack Pilcher. An injury to Tom Owen saw Sam Fletcher enter the arena but with half time approaching there was no further score. 

The second half began with Sandal looking for a score but when the ball came to Chris Johnson from the kick off his huge booming clearance and chase from the Heath players put the home side back on the defence. Heath were just too quick for the Sandal side and from a couple of drives Elliott Spiers was on hand to scoop the ball up and score a try, converted again by Johnson and a score of 17-0 with forty-five minutes played.

An injury to Chris Moore saw Rondene Johnson return to the action and as Heath re-adjusted Sandal took advantage when centre Joel Allott scored a try but an easy conversion was missed, 17-5 on fifty minutes. This seemed to inspire the home team who continued to press and with another score imminent the referee, quite rightly, blew his whistle to halt the game following an injury to Matthew Hallett. Tom Owen returned as Hallett left the field. Sandal continued to press but Heath were determined not to concede and when Chris Johnson put in yet another clearance the ball was chased down with Sam Fletcher leading the rest who robbed the ball and danced over for a third try on the hour mark, 22- 5

Back came Sandal and after yet another onslaught on the visitors defence Matt Beasty was sin-binned. Despite the home team's efforts they could not break through the Heath defence and in a rare attack Heath wingman Callum Harriott-Brown collected the ball on the half way line and sprinted his way to the try-line, roared on by the large Heath following, to score the bonus point fourth try, 27-5 with seventy five minutes played. This seemed to deflate the home side and when Chris Johnson added a penalty to make a final score of 30-5 Heath had completed the task. 

Surely, no man of the match from Heath as this was a superb squad effort as the players soaked up home pressure and were too quick for the Sandal players on the break. The maximum points from the game puts Heath at the top of the pile in the league at least for 24 hours and following three wins they now turn their attention to next Saturdays home game against Scunthorpe in Round 4.