Heath get out of jail, after turning down earlier shots at goal.

YORKSHIRE ONE  HEATH 24  HULLENSIANS  23

In a game littered with penalties Heath managed to scrape a win against East coast rivals Hullensians in a game which is easily forgettable.

Once again’ due to injuries’ coach Dave Harrison had to re-shuffle his back line bringing in Sam Pollard at full back for the injured Jordan Bradbrook, Callum-Harriet Brown on the wing as Jack Sheldrake moved to centre, Cameron Ramsden at centre with Ezra Hinchliffe moving to stand off for the injured James Robson who is out for the rest of the season. Martyn Barnes and Michael Reynolds sat on the bench with Jordan Moana.

The match began in glorious conditions and with Heath on the attack they were awarded a penalty after 4 minutes and Hinchliffe converted to take Heath into the lead 3-0. However, the lead was short lived as from the re-start Heath lost the ball and the visitors swooped onto the loose ball to score a try and conversion and lead 7-3 after 6 minutes. After a bright start Heath seemed to go into their shells with little communication amongst the players and Hullensians took advantage scoring a second converted try after 13 minutes to increase their lead to 14-3. Heath were not at the races and were making too many mistakes. A rare forage into the Hullensians twenty five area saw Ryan Hunter win line out ball but the drive to the try-line was held short and the visitors survived. The game began to be littered with penalties and after 23 minutes Hinchliffe converted one to reduce the arrears 14-6. Play was scrappy and when Hunter was replaced by Moana he had some impact as he linked up with Chris Moore to surge forwards as half time approached. A strong run from Jack Sheldrake saw Heath step up a gear and from the line out Chris Piper popped up to score a try and reduce the arrears to 14-11 as half time came. Once again Hullensians came back at Heath and converted a penalty just before the whistle for half time and went into the break leading 17-11.

Coach Harrison tried to instil some urgency into his players but yet another penalty from Hullensians, just after the start of the  second half, did  not help their cause and the visitors were coasting 20-11. Chris Moore was replaced by Martyn Barnes as coach Harrison tried to get the players on track but nothing seemed to be working for the home side. Hinchliffe missed a relatively easy penalty attempt and Matt Beasty won line out ball but the usual hard working pack were held up short. Harriet- Brown was released by Richard Brown but held up. Heath were beginning to put pressure on the visitors defence and as Hullensians were pulled all over the place Moana dropped the ball as a try looked on which summed up Heaths afternoon. Nevertheless, Heath continued to work hard and when Moore came back on for Olly Cook he linked up with Chris Piper, Brown and Moana to release Luke Saltonstall who was bundled into touch just short of  the try-line. From the scrum Heath managed to surge forwards and Ben Maxwell was on hand to score a try, converted by Hinchliffe, and Heath pulled the score back to 18-20 on 65 minutes and it was game on at last. Michael Reynolds came on for Harriet-Brown as Harrison looked to turn the screw. Brown, Sheldrake, Pollard and Hinchliffe were at last gelling and the visitors were beginning to panic. Yet  another penalty for Heath saw Hinchliffe put Heath in front for  the first time 21-20 after 70 minutes and the game had sprung to life. The visitors came straight back at Heath and converted a penalty on 73 minutes to re-take the lead 23-21. Tempers were raised as both sides went looking for the win and Chris Moore was sin-binned after a fracas on the half way line but Heath responded well and converted another penalty to lead 24-23 with three minutes left on the clock. With the  clock ticking down Hullensians were given a life-line to win the game as they were awarded a penalty but from a difficult angle the ball went wide of the posts and Heath had got out of jail as the referee blew for full time and the league points were in the bag.

This was a very frustrating game for the Heath faithful as the home side never really got into any sort of rhythm and although playing well individually they never seemed to gell as a team. The result means they move up one place in the league but with another home game next week against high flying Scarborough Heath re going to have to work extremely hard on the training ground as they prepare for next Saturday.