Heath U17s just lose out in first League Game.

Heath under 17’s narrowly lost out to Guisborough in what was their first ever competitive league game, having been entered in to the newly-formed North One Division. Heath kicked off and were straight on to the front foot, with halfbacks Peter Birkett and Sam Pollard setting up good field position for the home side. This established an ideal platform for a new look pack to drive forward from the fringes, and strong work from the entire set of forwards resulted in second row, Fergus Marsden, powering over from close range. Ezra Hinchliffe precisely converted, and Heath looked the stronger side. 7 – 0. However, sloppy errors from the resulting Guisborough restart, gave the visitors a promising period of possession, and Heath were left wanting, out wide, allowing one of Guisborough’s dangerous back three to dive over in the corner. With the conversion missed, Heath remained in the lead at 7 - 5; a lead that was then extended after evasive running and quick hands in the backs, particularly from Hinchliffe, as he fed Will Colbeck to score in the corner. A sweet touchline conversion from Pollard now meant the home side were 14 - 5 up. However, this advantage was only short-lived, since mistakes, yet again from the kick off, allowed Guisborough in for a converted score out wide. Pollard however hit back for Heath increasing their lead with a clever drop goal that left them 17-12 up at half time. Despite coach Hetherington doing his best to rally the troops in the interval, Guisborough flew out of the blocks in the second half and it was not long before this pressure once again told, the away side drawing level and then taking the lead with two unconverted tries. 17 - 22. Heath remained pressed on the back foot, however, the fresh legs of substitute full back Will Tolley provided a moment which seemed to have changed the game. Chasing his own kick, Tolley raced 50 yards down the pitch to charge down the Guisborough return, hacking the ball forward to then superbly finishing off a fine solo effort. With Pollard again converting, the home side had retained a 24 - 22 lead, and Tolley’s moment of inspiration appeared to have sparked the fire in the belly’s of the under 17s. Nevertheless, Guisborough were relentless, continued to press and, despite having fresh legs on the pitch, Heath’s defence waned. Countless tackles were missed in numerous areas of the pitch, and the tired-looking defence was eventually breached in the final ten minutes; with Guisborough’s talented Fullback stepping and breaking to cross over for the game’s deciding try. With the away side successfully converting, Heath ran out of both time and ideas to win back the game, eventually losing out 24-29. No doubt further work will be done in training such that the squad can bounce back strongly against Middlesborough in a fortnight’s time.