Alex rubs salt into visitors’ wounds
A HAT TRICK from captain Alex Salt lead Hinckley to what was in the end a comfortable win over old friends Scunthorpe on Saturday.
Mounting injuries so changes were made in the backline with Josh Smith and Sam Driver both getting first starts of the season following their long term injuries. In the pack Ben Latimer and Alex Branson came in for only their second and third starts respectively.
Hinckley had the first scoring opportunity three minutes in but Mark Lord pushed a penalty attempt wide. A couple of minutes later Steve Johnson kicked one for Scunthorpe to give them the lead.
Hinckley hit back when an excellent break from Smith allowed Scott Hamilton to set up Salt for his first try.
Hinckley then suffered from severe indiscipline, unable to stay on the right side of the penalty count giving Johnson four opportunities to build a lead which Scunthorpe did, by 15 points to 5 just before half time. In this period Alex Crocker (dangerous tackle) and Ben Latimer (team offence) were both sent to the bin.
A crucial moment then came just before half time - with Hinckley on the front foot it was Scunthorpe who saw yellow with Johnson going to the bin, and with the final kick of half, Mark Lord added three points to leave the score 8-15.
Now playing with the wind Hinckley came firing out of the blocks scoring within 90 seconds of the restart, with an excellent team move finished well by Driver following a break from Smith. Lord then added the touchline conversion to leave the score at 15-15.
Both sides then looked for the break which would create the ascendency in the game, and it looked like that would go to the visitors when on 50 mins Luke Coltman received a red card for a high tackle. However, the opposite happened, and with 14 against 15 Hinckley scored four tries to one to win the game.
The first of these came with a short range finish from Driver after Mitch Lamb was help up short. It was converted by Lord. Then soon after, despite playing a forward down, the Hinckley pack was still dominant enough to push Scunthorpe back over their own line with Salt touching down.
The final five minutes then saw three scores - first Josh Smith scored a well-deserved try in the left hand corner. And with the final play, Salt completed his hat trick from close range. Lord converted both. In the middle of those tries was an unconverted try for the visitors.
The 1st XV now have a complete week off, before preparing to face Tynedale at home on March 4.