Haywards Heath claw their way back to win away at old rivals Shoreham

Last season the sides played three times with Shoreham taking the honours two wins to one so Heath knew they were in for a battle.

Shoreham dictated the early exchanges but went behind after two minutes when trying to throw the ball out wide it was intercepted by Tom Wharton who scored for an early 0-7 lead. The home side came straight back when running a Heath kick out of defence they moved left and dotted down to bring the scores level at 7-7.

Five minutes later things got worse for Heath when they themselves were intercepted, allowing a stroll in for a Shoreham try and 14-7. Heath couldn't get a foothold in the game and when they infringed at the ruck just inside their own half, they were punished again with a long-range penalty for Shoreham to lead 17-7.

Indiscipline from Shoreham allowed Heath back into the game after a tip tackle was penalised. Heath went to the corner and although the ensuing lineout was scrappy, captain Wilf Bridges got his hands on the ball and smashed through tackles for a try to pull it back to 17-14 courtesy of a Wharton conversion. Heath couldn't keep the momentum however and were pinged at the ruck again allowing Shoreham to knock over another long-range penalty for a 20-14 lead which was how it stayed until half time.

Turning round with the wind in their favour Heath returned to the fray with a steely resolve to claw their way back into the match. Although from the restart it was once again all Shoreham pressure, a turnover from Heath in their own half was snapped up by Bridges who with two huge hand offs broke away from the defence and showing some not often seen pace made it up and over the try line for the score. 20-19 and suddenly Heath were starting to believe they could turn this match around.

An inspired Bridges was at it again a short while later when Shoreham infringed. Quick tapping the penalty the Heath captain stormed up the pitch where the Shoreham tacklers finally caught him on the try line and he was held up. The Heath scrum was now working well and from the 5-metre set piece the ball moved wide left where the Shoreham defence manged to slow things down before Lewis Goodhall got back on the ball to score. Wharton added the extras for 20-26.

It was now Shoreham's discipline that was coming under pressure and yet another penalty, this time for offside, was kicked to the corner. Heath won the lineout, set up the maul and drove the Shoreham pack into their in-goal area and touched down with front row stalwart Harry Edwards emerging from the bottom of the pile with the ball. Another Wharton conversion moved the score on to a healthy 20-33 lead for Heath.

However there was more drama to come as a Heath clearance kick was collected scrappily by Shoreham but moved left for their outside centre to outstrip the covering defence and pull it back to a 6-point game at 27-33.

When a long clearance kick from Shoreham was punted deep into Heath territory there didn't seem much on but a raking touch-finder from Chris Neill took play all the way deep into the Shoreham 22 and a resulting 50-22 lineout to the visitors. From first phase Heath swung the ball wide where winger Dougie Kern went over in the corner for the try, converted by Wharton for a 27-40 scoreline. A high tackle from a frustrated Shoreham defender in front of the posts allowed Wharton to kick the penalty and take the game beyond two scores at 27-43.

There was still time for Bridges to show his footballing skills when attacking wide right, he put in a grubber kick which the home defence had no option but to touch down in goal. The Shoreham goal line drop was kicked straight to outside centre Jack Flower who side-stepped two would-be Shoreham tacklers and raced in for another try. Wharton converted bringing his personal tally to 20 points and an eventual full-time score of 27-50.

This was another good performance from Heath who came back from a half time deficit to take the bonus point win under a barn storming effort from skipper Wilf Bridges who scored two tries. There is no league game next Saturday but the following weekend (26 November) sees Heath at home to second placed local rivals East Grinstead with a 2.30pm kick off.

1st XV Matchday Squad: Martin McDonagh; Harry Edwards; Elliott Higgins; Dan Shotton; Henry Dickson; Jack Herbert; Lewis Goodhall; Wilf Bridges (capt); Alex Chard; Tom Wharton; Samuela Bulitkavale-Lancaster; Jamie Diggle; Jack Flower; Dougie Kern; Chris Neill; Oli Robertson; Jamie Thurston; Ellis Dubois