Vital win moves Heath up the League.

At last Heath secured their first maximum points win of the season with a resounding defeat of visitors Selby at North Dean. In what head coach Dave Harrison described as a must win game he was not disappointed as Heath ran in four tries to get that elusive win to move them up to eleventh in the league and out of the relegation places. Eddie Cartwright returned to full back with Jack Sheldrake moving to centre to allow Si Brown a place on the wing in a back division row that was beginning to find form. Heath’s pack were bolstered by the return of Howard Hanks and Ben Maxwell and on the bench was Martyn Barnes, Tobias Hinchliffe and Fergus Marsden. From the start both teams tested each other out as they probed for openings but with forwards Richard Brown and Tom Baxter making in-roads, early on, into the Selby defence and Matt Beasty and Ben Maxwell winning line out ball, Heath were gradually getting on top. The backs were starting to click so it came as no surprise to see Matt Beasty pop up for Heaths first try after 12 minutes. With a superb conversion, from Ezra Hinchliffe, the home side were in front 7-0. Heath continued on the front foot with Olly Cook and Brown again prominent and when Eddie Cartwright caught a high ball his pass to the supporting Hinchliffe saw him release Alex McFadden, who tore into the Selby defence. It was all Heath and when Hinchliffe missed a penalty opportunity he made up for it with a superbly worked try on 18 minutes as Heath continued to batter the visitors defence and lead 12-0. Next, wing Luke Saltenstall drove for the Selby try line, following a clever kick from Dom Walsh and then Jack Sheldrake linked well with Si Brown, as Heath controlled the game. It wasn’t until the 30 minute mark that Selby mounted their first real attack and they came away with a converted try, after scrum half Danny Wilkinson scored and Josh Cruise added the extras for them to get back into the game at 12-7. Next a penalty conversion from Criuise drew the score to 12-10 after 33 minutes and Heath supporters feared the worse. Heath needed to respond and get back to how they had started but, as frustrations grew, Chris Moore was sin-binned just before half time and the whistle from referee Pearson came as welcome relief. Stern words were said by Harrison at half time and when Selby misjudged the kick off to start the second half, the resulting scrum saw Fergus Marsden enter the fray to replace Ben Maxwell. Jack Sheldrake was next to set up a charge and on 47 minutes a penalty from Ezra Hinchliffe saw Heath’s lead increased to 15-10. However, from the restart woeful tackling from Heath saw Selby wing Duncan Hardy score in the corner and when Cruise converted the visitors were in front 17-15. Moore returned and Maxwell came on for Olly Cook . A penalty from Hinchliffe, on 50 minutes, restored Heath’s lead 18-17 for an immediate response. they were again looking to get on top and, following good work from Brown, Moore and Sheldrake a further penalty from Hinchliffe on 65 minutes saw a lead of 21-17. Concentration was now required from the Heath players and in their next attack James Robson linked well with Sheldrake and Cartwright to set up a scrum on the Selby line. Controlled work from Number 8 Richard Brown enabled him to score Heath’s third try on 73 minutes to push the score to 26-17. But Selby kept fighting and Cruise added a penalty on 75 minutes for a score of 26-20. Heath went looking for that elusive bonus point try and when Mattt Beasty popped up for his second try of the game the relief was immense for everyone connected to Heath. Hinchliffe’s conversion had a score of 33-20 and Heath were out of sight. As Heath reached the half-way point of the season they sit in eleventh place with a game in hand after the abandonment of the Old Brodleians game in November and go into next weeks match against unbeaten Bridlington in buoyant mood.