Kukri North West Counties Division 3

Heysham Atoms 28 points
Vs
Haresfinch 14 points

The excellent league form of the Heysham Atoms continued with an impressive victory over Haresfinch from St Helens. The unfortunate player merry go round was again enforced on team selection but at least the three-quarter line looked to be near full strength.

The Atoms still entered the field full of confidence against a side that had a similar league record and one place above them in the league table. Early pressure from Haresfinch brought its reward as the Atoms found themselves defending their own line and when a kick was fumbeled the St Helens side took the lead.

The Atoms were immeditly put on the back foot again asked to defend deep in their own territory. The pressure was released when Mark Walker spun out of a couple of tackles on a lateral run finally finding centre Al crookall cutting an excellent line. Crookall's run got the Atoms in the opposition's half for the first time in the game. Stuart Lacey's cultured left boot push Haresfinch back towards their own line and a good chase forced the error. This turn over gave the Atoms good field position from which Liam Hall and Craig Dixon took great pleasure in exploiting.

A well excecuted handling move got Stuart Lacey into space with the line at his mercy he glided inside the cover for the Atoms first score. The Atoms pushed on from here and Lacey was heavily involved in the next score. He combined superbly with full back Jake Harrison who scorched over the line for a quick fire second Atoms try.

Two big packs slugged it out toe to toe down the middle of the park with the efforts of Hartlebury and Hall just swinging the balance in the Atoms favour.

Billy Livingstone has been one of the Atoms most potent attacking weapons over a couple of seasons and he was given a chance to show hee knows his way to the line. Haresfinch dropped the ball 15 meters from the Atoms line and Livingstone picked up and won the foot race to the line for a long range score. Jake Harrison's kick returns relieved a lot of pressure but not even he could prevent Haresfinch's strong running second row from setting up his winger with a slipped pass out of the tackle. A penalty to Haresfinch was knocked over with seconds remaining in the first period giving the Atoms a 16 - 10 half time lead.

The second half didnt live up to the first and the game became a scrappy stop- start affair. Too many penalties and too many errors tried the patience of everyone resulting in very little flow to the game. The Atoms furthered their lead with a trade mark Liam Hall try converted by Billy Livingstone. The Atoms had to do some defending and Callum Hall cleaned up well at the back. 4 Sets of 6 finally took its toll as Haresfinch scored on their left wing.

The nerves were eased when a Dixon break took play to the right end of the field as far as the Atoms were concerned. Lacey again made the space in midfield and the supporting Hartlebury powered over with 3 defenders on his back.

A final frenzy of activity saw supporters being escorted from the ground, Liam Hall sin binned and the durable pair of Cambidge and Helliwell bringing off important tackles as the Atoms were a man down. Ultimatly all that mattered was that the Atoms had secured 2 more vital competition points.

Portrait Pools Man Of The Match
1 Craig Dixon
2 Liam Hall
3 Al Crookall

Heysham Atoms: Harrison Winder Crookall Lacey Middlehurst Livingstone Helme Hall Marrin Hartlebury Helliwell Dixon Walker Res : Hall Cambidge Pike Livingstone

Next Sat League Game vs Spring View ( Wigan ) ko 2 pm