Heysham Atoms 42-26 Ashton Bears

The first time the Atoms were in possession they showed their intent with Jamie Cottle drawing a penalty after clearing his lines with relative ease.

The Atoms’ pack muscled their way forward and Liam Hall took an inside pass to crash over for the first score.

Ill-discipline got the better of the Atoms though and three penalties on the trot marched them back to defend their own line. Ashton took advantage of this ‘piggy back’ to score on the left.

However, Micheal Forrest then showed his class directly from a scrum, running on an outside arc, rounding his opposite number and scoring to the right of the uprights.

A nice high kick from Walker then forced an error and the Atoms immediately retrieved possession.

Matt Mount went close before Hall scored a carbon copy of his first try.

A good opening for The Atoms was spoilt as they became a bit loose and an interception on the 25 yard mark resulted in an Ashton try.

Ashton then set off on a 90 yard break that had the Atoms scrambling back to defend but they couldn’t prevent an excellent score, although the hosts went into half time 18-16 ahead.

The Atoms looked far more determined to reduce the errors of the first half in the second period and they were rewarded with a Jake Harrison try, the second rower skipped through the first line of defenders and beat the cover to score.

Centre Jack Edmondson came into his own as the Ashton defence began to tire.

He first picked a loose ball and sped away 60 metres to score, then he benefited from a well-placed Jamie Cottle kick as the ball kindly bounced up into his path, scoring his second try and giving the Atoms a comfortable 20 point cushion at 36-16.

As in the first half the Atoms switched off and back roared the Bears. The Atoms were guilty of being lazy in defence as an Ashton forward stretched out to score to the left of the posts.

Man of the match Jamie Cottle came up with an excellent cover tackle as Ashton pushed for an unlikely comeback, and winger Chris Thomas was also called upon in his defensive role as the dangerous Ashton centre tried to break loose.

Young second rower Callum Brodie was within inches of scoring his debut try as he ran strongly into contact before Forrest created the final Atoms score, making another outside break before a superb off load in the tackle gave winger Luke Charlson his second try of the season with his first touch of the game.

Billy Livingstone continued his faultless kicking display as he slotted his seventh conversion from seven attempts.

The final score of the game was scored by Ashton as they kicked and chased directly from a scrum, bringing to an end this hugely entertaining encounter.