Heated affair sees Mayfield triumph
MAYFIELD travelled to Wigan St Pats for a clash where the weather proved hotter than the action on the field.
Mayfield gave a debut at Open Age to youngster Luke Fowden while Leigh Registe and Matty Chrimes returned.
The match started with Pats taking advantage of their sets of six while Mayfield struggled to control the ball. Pats took advantage of some poor Mayfield defence on the edges to score and convert in the 13th minute.
Mayfield dominated the game possession-wise but even with Pats down to 12 men they could not cross the white wash until the 39th minute when debutant Fowden dived over to score a try which Zac Hartley converted.
Early pressure from both teams in the second half went unrewarded until a penalty on 60 minutes from the Pats line saw Lewis Butterworth dive over under the sticks. Again Hartley converted.
From the resultant kick off the Pats winger panicked and let the ball bounce over him and excellent recovery work by Matty Ashton provided a try-scoring pass to Wayne English who went over in the corner. Hartley converted from the sideline making it 18-6 to Mayfield.
Callum Marriott continued with his fearsome defence, hitting the Pats forwards at leisure. As the game entered the last 10 minutes fatigue set in and Pats scored two quick tries with both kicks converted from the touchline, bringing the score back to 18-18.
Matty Ashton was quickest to react on 73rd minute when he regathered a kick and went on to score in the corner, giving the visitors a 22-18 advantage.
Further sets of six were exchanged when hooker Dec Sheridan made quick work at the play the ball to give him a gap to cross for what was to be the winning try with the referee blowing the whistle once the ball cleared the posts.
Coach Matt Calland said: “I suppose it’s a win, we had to dig deep, credit to the team spirit.”