Heysham Atoms 30, Hindpool 4
December 1 , 2007

The Atoms gained revenge for the defeat earlier in the season up at Barrow with a convincing victory, scoring six tries in the process. This was only the third game so far this season that they had played on their favoured home ground of the Trimpell and were determined to take advantage of the fact. This was a much-improved showing from the one last week at Dalton, built around some fine individual performances that had sadly been lacking the week before. The pack as a whole dominated their opposite numbers but two of the front row stood out from the rest. Captain Gary Lithgow at hooker had his best game of the season so far finding lots of room to snipe around the play the ball areas and Liam Hall was at his abrasive best gaining some great yards with ball in hand and putting himself about in defence with some uncompromising tackling. The team defence was markedly improved from last week, which set the platform for the Atoms to express themselves into attack.

The early dominance came from the Atoms playing with the structure that they are working so hard to achieve. The Heysham side forced an error after a good chase had put sufficient pressure on Hindpool's full back. From the scrum the ball went to the narrow side were a well-timed pass from centre Sean Weed put away Billy Livingstone on the left wing. He showed great commitment to squeeze in at the corner, just by the flag, and give the Atoms a confidence boosting start to this important game. The Atoms further there score as the forwards made a series of drives that took them three quarters the length of the field. The pivot's job is made so much easier on the front foot with Hartelbury and Helme able to direct play to willing runners. A sweeping handling move again found Livingstone in space but he had a bit more to do this time. He showed good acceleration to again score close to the left hand corner flag. Although facing a stiff breeze he converted from the touchline to give the Atoms a healthy 10 - nil lead.

The Atoms dominance was typified by the way they were able to bring the ball back out of defence. This always gave the Atoms a great start to their sets with Richardson Holmes and Graham outstanding in this department. Shane Weed came on from the bench with the instructions to maintain the intensity, which he carried out to the letter showing how hard he is to put down in full flight. An attack was held up just short of the line and as the covering defence slid over to the blind side hooker Gary Lithgow dived over on the vacant open side for an easy score. This was soon followed up by a searing break from loose forward Mark Walker who split the Hindpool defence wide open. As the full back caught him he offloaded a great ball to Liam Hall who was trailing the run up the inside. Hall crashed over close to the sticks for a converted try, his fifteenth of the season, taking the Atoms out to 20 - nil. The last ten minutes of the half became a bit sloppy, which was a shame such was the quality that had gone before. The Atoms began to force the pass and try to score with every play. Hindpool took advantage-taking pay deep into Atoms territory. The Atoms were forced to concede a couple of repeat sets and although the Atoms were defending their line manfully this amount of possession ultimately tells. Hindpool's hard working prop forward burrowed his way over the line with the last play of the half. This took a little bit of gloss off what had been an excellent first period.

It took the Atoms a further 10 minutes after the break to settle down and it was the forwards who again were given the responsibility of taking charge. Josh O'Donnell and the turban wearing Lee Harvey were putting in a good defensive stint, as Hindpool weren't allowed to break off their shackles. Hartlebury brought Liam Hall back on the inside as he crashed his way through a couple of tackles taking him close to the line. This time it was his turn to be provider offloading to Donno who scored his first ever try for the Atoms. Callum Hall returned to the side and nearly got on the score sheet when he hacked on a loose ball for 40 meters before getting the touch down only to be adjudged to be over the dead ball line. Josh O'Donnell made a 30-yard break running into a great hole. The ball was swung back to the right were Mark Walker forced the ball down for the Atoms sixth try. Shaw and Livingstone came on for their second spells in the forward pack making sure all was kept tight up until the final whistle.

What an outstanding victory over the Hindpool Tigers

The defence during the game was relentless and we swarmed all over the tigers in packs for the entirety of the game all over the pitch.

What a difference one week makes in Rugby league from the game at Dalton which was lacklustre to the game at home last weekend against the Tigers which was simply fantastic.

4 tries that the atoms scored on the weekend the ball passed through many sets of hands and the finishing was tremendous, many a week we have been working on sliding defence and our attack out wide and both came to fruition in the one game.

The Atoms wore the heart on their sleeve on Saturday and really stood up, it was something very pleasing to see from all the coaching staff.

Liam Hall was outstanding on Saturday in clearly his best game of the year. Gary Lithgow was like a livewire through the centre of the park and many a time skirted through the defence to make large inroads, Brian Campbell's surging hitups gained a huge amount of yardage for the Atoms and his defence was rock solid. Billy Livingstone scored 2 great tries down the wing and had a combined total of 14 points to his name, and both pivots Andrew Helme and Kieth Hartelbury dominated their roles and gave us the momentum to continue forward.

Only 2 games to go before Xmas and this week is the tough road trip to Glazenbury, if the Atoms play like they did last week we will be in for a barnstorming game.

Till next week go the Atoms!

Scott Saddler