Poor start and sllck defence not redeemed by final flurry.

Heath visited Pontefract having selected a changed side due to the unavailability of Ian Downsborough and James Watson; then on the day Matt Baxendale withdrew and his place on the wing was taken by Rob Thackray. The back row was rearranged for Montgomery to deputise at No. 8 for Downsborough, allowing Olly Collinge to start at wing forward. Olly Cook stood in for Watson. In the centre, Karl Craven partnered Martin Moana with Ben Mitchell dropping to fullback and Si Brown moving to the wing. Heath kicked off, but it was the home side which made an immediate impact. Fullback Nowak skipped past a rather static Heath defence for a try, converted by Dean after 5 minutes to put Pontefract in the lead at 7 – 0. Playing up the slope, Heath struggled to come to terms with the pace of the game and when Chris Moore was caught offside after 15 minutes, Dean increased the lead to 10 – 0. On 23 minutes, Pontefract again opened up a fairly static defence with slick handling and nifty footwork for Bacon to score a try which wasn’t converted to give the home team a comfortable 15 – 0 lead. Heath’s first opportunity to get on the scoreboard came on 30 minutes when they were awarded a penalty and Mitchell reduced the deficit to 15 – 3. This spurred on the visitors and Mark Puttick made a great break, only for the Pontefract defence to hold out. Undeterred, Heath kept battling away and when Moana made a break he released the ball to the supporting Montgomery who scored a try on 35 minutes, converted by Mitchell to close the gap to 15 – 10. Moana was again instrumental in opening up the home defence as half time approached, but, with the try line begging, Pontefract held out and cleared. Puttick again attacked with a storming run and Craven, Lomas, Cook and Spence were all looking for a break but half time came with no extra score. Heath had put in a good performance in the last 20 minutes after an unusually hesitant start. The second half began with Pontefract very much on the attack. On 48 minutes a serious injury to prop Chris Moore saw Roger Hammond enter the fray. Pontefract nearly scored through Novak but he dropped the ball over the try line. Heath were desperately holding on as Wilby and Cook were injured. Wilby soldiered on to the end – but Cook soon succumbed and went off. This resulted in uncontested scrums and Hargreaves went over in the corner for an unconverted try on 55 minutes, to put the home side ahead at 20 -10. Pontefract encamped in the Heath 22 and it was not until the 65th minute, following good work from Lomas and Spence, that Richard Cole went over for a try which was converted by Mitchell to put Heath back in the game at 20 -17. Pontefract’s immediate response was a penalty for offside as Heath defended. Dean’s conversion made it 23 – 17 on 67 minutes. The hosts kept the pressure on, but Heath’s defence was resolute this time around. Next to leave the field injured was Lomas and Cartwright took his place. When Heath eventually made a second attack it was Cartwright who rounded off an excellent move with a try out wide on 76 minutes. The attempted conversion was unsuccessful leaving Heath trailing 23 -22. Pontefract hit straight back when Heath strayed offside and Dean’s well-struck penalty extended the home team’s lead to 26 – 22. Heath continued looking for a score and throwing the ball about but gave away another penalty on full time for Dean to give Pontefract a final score of 29 – 22. This was a disappointing result for Heath but they missed scoring chances and kicked ball to Pontefract’s strength too often. Had Pontefract taken all their opportunities the margin would have been greater.