Kukri North West Counties Division 3

fromthe Heysham Atoms 34 points

Vs

Woolston Rovers ( Warrington ) 36 points

The Atoms have pushed every team in this league right to the wire at home this season and the game against joint leaders Woolston from Warrington proved to be no different. The spectators definately got their moneys worth with the two sides sharing 70 points in an outstanding advert for amateur rugby league. The Atoms had not lead in the game until the final few minutes after fighting back from a 30 - 14 deficit mid way through the second period, to go in front 34 - 30 after an inspirational hat trick from Atoms captain Billy Livingstone. The Atoms hearts were broken with 40 seconds remaining as Woolston capitalised on a needless penalty, scoring wide out on the left hand corner flag bringing the scores level at 34 all. The Woolston kicker held his nerve with a superb touchline conversion to give his side the narrowist of victories.

The beginning of the game couldnt have been worse for the Atoms spilling the ball directly from the kick off and conceding a try on play one from the scrum. The Atoms response was immediate and effective forcing an error and Mark Walker capitalising on some slack marker play on woolstons blind side. Livingstone failed with the conversion this was his only miss throughout the 80 minutes.

The Atoms attack looked in good shape but it was defensively where they struggled especially close to their own line as the promotion candidates used some neat interplay between forwards and backs opeining up the Atoms defence. Two quick trys took them into a 16 - 4 lead.

The Atoms forced two goal line drop outs after inteligent kicking from stand off Neil Walker. This kind of pressure is hard to absorb and after Chris Helme had gone close Mark Walker showed great strength to force his way over for his second try of the afternoon.

Half time 10 -16 to Woolston.

The Atoms needed a lift and it came in the form of Daniel Ginnochio and Brett Ashley who entered the game from the bench. Both showed a great positive attitude taking the fight to their more illustrious opponents showing no respect for reputations. The big Woolston pack was at times hard to contain and once on a roll was very difficult to stop. A period of domination for the Warrington outfit inspired by their forwards helped them take control of the game and taking their tally to 30 points. At this point the responsibility of the captain can be tested as the Atoms were staring at a heavy defeat. Billy livingstone decided to inspire his own side through deed rather than words of encouragement scoring a high quality hattrick in a 20 minute period of attacking rugby. All three trys were similar in execution, taking the ball right to the line, showing the ball then attacking the gaps backing himself with a nice turn of pace. The confidence raised through out the Atoms side and centre Stuart Lacey benefited from a rampant Atoms attacking unit scoring wide out on the left.

Livingstones third try was the best individual effort of the game taking the Atoms into the lead with only minutes remaining and giving Livingstone a personal tally of 22 points for the match. The Atoms again found themselves on the wrong side of the penalty count gifting field position to Woolston on numerous occasions throughout the contest. It was indeed a penalty that started the rot as the seconds ticked away, giving away easy yards to Woolstons eager runners. Woolston showed they had the cooler heads keeping play at the right end of the field hammering the Atoms line dragging more and more defenders in as they went in search of victory. The ball was spun out to the left and a miss match in numbers allowed Woolstons left winger to squeeze in close to the corner flag. The loose forward stepped up and made good with his conversion on the last kick of the game.

Match ball sponsor: Mr Chris Needham

Portrait Pools.com Men of the Match:
1. Billy Livingstone
2. Michael Marrin
3. Mark Walker

Heysham Atoms:Sean Weed, Gavin winder, Stuart Lacey, Billy Livingstone, Jake Harrison, Neil Walker, Andy Helme, Chris Helme, Mike Marrin, Shane Weed, Al Crookall, Callum Hall, Mark Walker, Dave Mcvernon, Daniel Ginnochio, Keith Hartlebury, Brett Ashley.