Heaton Moor Senior Colts 29-21 Vale of Lune

Heaton Moor Senior Colts’ season has now sprung to life with three consecutive victories as they defeated a very gallant Vale of Lune.

In damp conditions at Green Lane, both teams displayed a great work ethic with impressive rugby on show.

Asa Bottomley split the Vale defence after just a minute with a run and finish from his own half, Joe Kilbride tagging the conversion.

Vale of Lune struck back within ten minutes with a spectacular try of their own to level the scores.

The Lancastrians were looking strong, but from a high kick forward, Angus Bottomley superbly caught and fed Joe Kilbride, who put Will Smith in for his first Moor try.

Ten minutes before the break, Vale of Lune had a scrum in their own 22 as they attempted to spray it to their lightning winger.

Dylan Starkie made a thunderous tackle, the resulting turnover allowed Bottomley to score in the corner for a 17-7 lead coming up to the break.

Then, on the stroke of half-time, Vale got themselves within three points as they scored and converted under the posts.

The second half proved just as tight, two very evenly matched sides taking turns to dominate.

The first ten minutes belonged to Moor when, after brilliant work by Fred McIlwraith and Stephen Ireland, Joe Kilbride, with an outrageous flicked pass, sent Dylan Starkie through for a try.

From the kick-off, debutant Andrew Badrock showed his exciting credentials with a score from inside his own 22, swatting the Vale defence away, Joe Kilbride adding the extras for a commanding 29-14 lead.

But Vale of Lune refused to go away, their battling qualities very evident as they pinned Moor in their own half for the remainder of the game.

The immense pressure told with another converted try to cut the gap to eight points with 10 minutes to play.

But, hard as they tried, they just couldn’t get closer, Heaton Moor’s defence working seriously hard to thwart any more onslaughts.