HEATH SECURE SEMI-FINAL SPOT WITH FINE PERFORMANCE AGAINST LYMM

Selection
15 Sam Fletcher 14 Elliott Spiers 13 Jack Malthouse 12 Chris Johnson 11 Callum Harriott-Brown 10 Dan Cole 9 Dom Walsh 1 Paul Turner 2 Alex McFadden 3 Chris Moore 4 Saif Boussaada 5 Fergus Marsden 6 Jason Merrie 7 Harvey Keighley-Payne 8 Ben Stringer 16 Joe Morrison 17 Jonny Cole 18 Olly Cook

Scorers
Jack Malthouse Try Callum Harriott-Brown Try    Chris Johnson 2 Cons 4 Pens

Report
Heath entertained high flying Lymm in their first outing since the end of March. Both teams were looking to secure a semi-final spot in the Papa Johns' Cup with a visit to Twickenham the prize for the finalists. Lymm had secured the Region 1 North West Championship and arrived at North Dean in confident mood after beating Bromsgrove in an earlier round but Heath were also on a roll looking to continue an unbeaten run of four games in the league which had secured second spot. Coach Harry welcomed back Jason Merrie and Fergus Marsden and settled for Jonny Cole, Joe Morrison and Olly Cook on the bench. A crowd approaching 400 had gathered and conditions were perfect.

Lymm kicked off playing towards the river end and from the first whistle both teams were in no mood to give anything away with the tactical battle developing in a tense opening ten minutes. The breakthrough came on thirteen minutes when a mistake from the visitors with a poor grubber kick was seized upon by Jack Malthouse who cruised through a huge gap to waltz over the try-line for a score, converted by Chris Johnson, and Heath led 7-0.

This inspired Heath and when Sam Fletcher collected a high clearance he released Callum Harriott-Brown who went on a run deep into the visitors' half. Next up, a massive hit from Harvey Keighley-Payne kept Lymm pinned in their own 22 and in desperation they gave away a penalty on twenty minutes and Johnson obliged with a conversion 10-0. Lymm tried hard to respond but Heath were in no mood to allow them to get a sniff of the ball and with the visitors guilty of making too many mistakes and, following a flowing move begun by Sam Fletcher and Dan Cole, the ball eventually arrived to Fergus Marsden who was held just short of the line with Lymm clinging on. It was only a matter of time before Heath would add to their score and, following good work from Saif Boussaada and Ben Stringer, the ball came out to Callum Harriott-Brown and the winger, who could run across puddles and not make a splash, glided in at the corner for a second try. Chris Johnson added the extras and Heath were in control 17-0 with thirty minutes played.

Jonny Cole and Olly Cook replaced Paul Turner and Jason Merrie and both were quickly in the thick of things as Heath went in search of adding to the score. Following yet another enforced mistake from Lymm, Chris Johnson stepped up again to convert a penalty, 20-0 and as the referee blew for half time a rather shell shocked Lymm  were happy to take a break to try and regain  some momentum.

Heath returned to the field for the start of the second half and picked up where they left off with a superb kick from Dan Cole, which put Lymm on the backfoot. In a desperate attempt to keep the home side at bay the visitors gave away yet another penalty and Chris Johnson converted 23-0. Jack Malthouse made way for Joe Morrison as Heath continued to control the game but a breakthrough came for Lymm on the hour mark when they found touch ten metres from the Heath try-line. After winning the ball, a clever move from the visitors saw them cross the line for a converted try 23-7.

The score seemed to inspire the visitors and much to their credit they began to make inroads into a jittery Heath defence. Chris Moore and Ben Stringer came off as Paul Turner and Jason Merrie returned but they were quickly into defensive mode as Lymm continued to press. Sam Fletcher was on hand to thwart yet another attack and Dan Cole was on hand to put in a clearing kick. Back came Lymm with some excellent rugby and they looked certain to score following some inept tackling - only for Elliot Spiers and Jason Merrie to chase back to put in two crucial tackles to save the day.

Jack Malthouse replaced Sam Fletcher after sixty-five minutes but he was powerless to  prevent the visitors scoring a converted try 23-14 with ten minutes left to play. From the re-start another big tackle from Fergus Marsden seemed to lift Heaths spirits and, when Lymm had a player sin-binned for a high tackle, Chris Johnson stepped up yet again to convert the penalty 26-14. This seemed to calm the nerves as Heath began to get back into the game. Yet more crunching tackles from Ben Stringer, Jason Merrie and Harvey Keighley-Payne supported by some astute kicking from Dan Cole saw Heath wind the clock down and they emerged worthy winners.

Attention now turns to next weeks semi final against Havant on the South coast. Not the easiest of places to get to but with the possibility of an appearance at Twickenham as the carrot dangling in front of the Heath players and supporters spirits will be high. See you there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!