Thatto Heath 18 Waterhead 6 HEATH turned up the heat to defeat the North West Counties League leaders.

With hailstone and gale force winds it was difficult to play open rugby. But Heath went ahead in the 10th minute when centre Lee Gannon crashed over the line straight from a tap penalty. Waterhead replied with a try from full-back John Perks in the 14th minute, after good work from the back line.

But Heath quickly went back in front when centre Wayne Jackman finished off a great move by scoring in the corner, bumping off two tacklers in the process.

The Oldham outfit hit back with a well struck penalty from Perks after Heath were guilty of lying on in the tackle.

In the second half Heath took charge of the game and with forwards Darren Blanchfield, Phil Southward and Martin Horton all running well Waterhead were finding it hard to hold on, and on 55 minutes Heath hooker Nigel Morris somehow slipped a pass to Mike Woods. There seemed to be no way through the Waterhead defence but the winger nipped in for a fine try.

Heath killed off Waterhead in the 73rd minute when substitute Chris Honey latched on to a cross field kick from Morris to race in near the post. Jackman hit the conversion to make the final score 18-6 in Heaths favour. Phil Southward was named man of the match with Morris, Gannon and Blanchfield all giving good support.

Heath are holding a St Patricks night on Saturday March 14. Tickets are £3 and are available from Shaun Crehan.

There were no winners on Heath lottery this week and next weeks prize money is £800. The numbers were 1,2,7,9,10,12.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.