Heath grind out a difficult but well deserved victory.

In the first 5 days of the season, Dinnington had lost to Ilkley by 3 points and Heath had lost to them by 2 points. These were indications of a close encounter. To add spice, Heath had travelled to South Yorkshire hoping to avenge their defeat in the last match of the 2010-11 campaign. The day was overcast to start with but then bright and sunny. The pitch was hard and the exposed ground was extremely windswept. Heath had re-organised their team after an injury in the pre-match warm-up and late withdrawals from the team selected. Dinnington started the game and fly-half Charlie Lomas kicked Heath back into their 22m area – but the kick was returned with interest. 10 minutes into the match, fly-half Williams put Dinnington ahead with a penalty when Heath were caught off-side. 3–0. For the next few minutes, Dinnington were encamped on the Heath line but wing Matt Baxendale managed to run the visitors out of trouble. Then hooker Dave Montgomery had to leave the field with a hand injury, bringing Richard Dance on for Heath. The next period of the game consisted of Dinnington driving forward and Heath defending valiantly. Suddenly, Heath won possession and the ball was moved swiftly through Lomas, centre Karl Craven and fullback Si Brown who had entered the line to create space for Baxendale who showed a clean pair of heels over fully 50 metres to score under the posts and create a simple conversion for Lomas. This took the score to 3 – 7 in Heath’s favour. In reply, Dinnington spent eight minutes 10 metres from the Heath line – but the defence was resolute. Both captains were warned about the intensity of the game. Also, the wind was teasing for both sides. However, on 38 minutes Heath were awarded a penalty, from which Lomas put Heath within 10 metres of the Dinnington line. Woodcock (Dinnington) was yellow-carded and Dance (Heath) was injured. Heath were penalised for holding on; then Dinnington knocked on. Both front rows and captains were warned by the referee and Dinnington were awarded a penalty which Williams knocked over to reduce the deficit to 6 – 7 for the home side. Dinnington drives moved Heath from one 22m line to the other, but there were no further scores before half –time. The second half started with Mark Garside, Heath centre off, injured, resulting in Rob Thackray moving inside to centre and the versatile Eddie Cartwright taking his place on the wing. 5 minutes into the half, Dinnington were back to full strength when their sin-binned offender returned. Heath’s scrum-half Gary Pidgeon made a clever break, but it came to naught; shortly afterwards the same player made an extravagant swallow-dive to touch down over the try-line, but the ball was taken away from him by the wind. Heath won a scrum on the opposition’s 22m line and Pidgeon and Cartwright combined, but Dinnington frustrated their efforts. Then, the powerful Dinnington forwards drove into the Heath 22 looking threatening but Thackray latched on to the ball and ran fully 40 yards to start Heath grafting back into the Dinnington half. Soon they were on the defensive again and No. 8 Andy Muir had to receive treatment and prop forward Chris Moore was yellow-carded. Great defence by Heath forced the Dinnington No.5 (Shepherd) into touch at the corner flag. Heath won the ensuing line-out but miscued the clearance and Longstaff stormed over for a great try for Dinnington under the posts which Williams converted to make the score 13 – 7 in the home side’s favour. Thus, Heath fell behind whilst reduced to 14 men. Heath replied with the best move of the match in which centre Craven scythed through the defence to put Martin White in for what appeared to be a brilliant try. However, incomprehensible to all on the ground, the referee denied the ‘try’ and pulled play back to where Dinnington had committed an offence and awarded a penalty – to Heath! He then awarded a 2nd penalty at which Heath chose not to take a relatively easy kick at goal. In the closing stages, as pressure increased, Dinnington’s Woodcock was sin-binned much to his chagrin. Then Baxendale inspired Heath yet again with one of his characteristic runs. After ‘Baxi’ was tackled, Pidgeon passed the ball to Lomas who moved it to prop forward James Watson whose soft hands put full-back Si Brown sweetly through for him to make the final pass to Cartwright who worked well to score wide out. With the score on 13 – 12 to the home side and 2 minutes left to play, all eyes were on Lomas taking a very difficult kick from the touch-line, in a swirling wind. His conversion was perfect, using the wind to curl the ball between the uprights for a 14 – 13 lead. Dinnington made a desperate attempt to rescue the match with another drive into the Heath half but Williams’ drop-goal attempt went wide. This had been an exiting match in difficult conditions that Heath’s youthful squad deservedly won. More photos available to view on the Dinnington website. Here's the link: https://picasaweb.google.com/104687428988292373864/Dinnington1stXVVHeath10thSeptember2011