Dalton 42, Heysham Atoms 6
November 24th , 2007

The Heysham Atoms run of good form over the last month came to an abrupt end on Saturday at the cold and windy setting of Dalton in Furness. The Barrow district side are very difficult to beat on their own patch and were never in any danger of losing that mantle against a lacklustre performance from the Atoms. The Atoms further suffered with two injuries to key players early in the piece with the injury to centre Simon Brooks being particularly nasty, suffering a suspected punctured lung in an innocuous looking challenge on the floor. The Dalton side looked a far more cohesive unit whereas the Atoms were predictable in their attacks against a smothering Dalton defence that was helped by a very skinny ten meters.

It looked like it was going to be a long, hard afternoon for the Atoms as the very first tackle was pulled up for being high and then on the last tackle of the first Dalton set their impressive loose forward rounded the cover putting his side in the lead with less than a minute played. This was a severe wake up call for the Atoms who had travelled to Cumbria with confidence about overturning the early season defeat down at Heysham High School.

The next fifteen minutes was were the Atoms had their best-sustained period of play during the whole game. Billy Livingstone collected a loose ball and made a break of thirty yards down the left touchline. On the back of this the Atoms completed the next three sets that gave them good field position. From here they launched attack after attack onto the Dalton line but the best defensive record in the league held firm. Two cracking kicks from stand off Hartlebury forced tow goal line drop outs but still the Dalton line could not be breeched. As is usual in these cases if you have all that pressure and do not score then you are going to pay for it. The Atoms did just that as they allowed a pressure relieving kick to find the touchline. A penalty further piggy-backed Dalton downfield and then to add insult to injury Dalton's hard working second row barged over, again, worryingly, on the last tackle. This was a tough blow for the Atoms along with enforced withdrawal of Brooks then playmaker Hartlebury within the space of a couple of minutes. Before the Atoms had time to properly re-group Dalton were over again taking an eighteen - nil lead on thirty-three minutes.

Dependable full back Guy Richardson saved a further try with a splendid tackle that showed there was a little bit of fight coming from the Atoms corner. The Atoms further disrupted a number of dangerous Dalton attacks but crucially switched off on the last play of the half. Dalton's industrious prop forward cut back against the grain finding a whole in a lazy Atoms defensive line.

Half time 24 - 0 to Dalton.

The Atoms came out positive in the second half and some great work from forwards Shane Weed and Mark Walker got the Atoms within striking distance. Lithgow went for the tried and tested play finding Liam Hall on a short pass. The big fellow had too much strength even when three defenders were on his back trying to prevent the score. Billy Livingstone converted from just about in front of the posts, which gave their loyal band of supporters something to cheer about at last. This optimism was soon shredded on the 50 minute mark as Dalton scored a well executed try that owed a lot to the support play of the forwards. The Atoms seemed to be able to clear their lines no problem but it was when in the opposition half that a wrong option or an unforced error created unnecessary pressure for themselves. Mike Holmes was forced to play in the unfamiliar role of centre but was making a good fist of it and certainly putting himself about. A failed intercept and then a kick out on the full were both errors that led to tries in the final ten minutes of the game which gave Dalton their eight win in eleven games and on this form the top two should be having a little look over their shoulders.

Team: Richardson, Holmes, Brooks, B.Livingstone, MacIntyre, Hartlebury, Helme, Hall, Lithgow, Weed, Shaw, O'Donnell, M.Walker, Res N.Walker, Donnovan, Winder, P.Livingstone.

On Saturday Shane Weed played his 100 th game for the Heysham Atoms

The next round of the North West Counties Challenge Cup will be against Clock Face Miners ( St. Helens ) 12.01.08 at Home

A disappointing day

Injuries were a big factor to this weeks encounter at Dalton and after 15 minutes of the match the Atoms were down to 1 reserve on the bench.

Broken fingers, punchered lung and bruised ribs didn't help when these injuries came to 3 crucial positions throughout our playing calibre.

Still even with this the Atoms played poorly, our defence was non existent and this proved crucial on the day and will again when we play good sides that are well above us on the ladder.

We talked about our defence at training and in the shed before the game and how it needed to be strong and how we all needed to aim up, The message obviously never got through to the players and they will need to think more about their game other than being distracted about other trivial things in the shed this week .

There will be changes this week and changes to positions that have been relatively safe over the past 10 weeks, players need to know that if their performances are not up to scratch then other players will be given the opportunity to perform.

I was very happy with the performances of a few of our players who in the face of defeat stood up and were counted Gary Lithgow, Mark Walker, Andrew Helme, Graham Donavon and Rob Shaw without these players things could have been a lot worse

Hindpool this Saturday at home at the Trimpell is going to be a great encounter, both teams are evenly matched and the player talent means it should be a good spectacle.

If the Atoms come out of the shoot ready to play and defend I have no doubt the two points will be ours.

Till next week go the Atoms!