Changes prove
MAYFIELD comfortably dispatched Pilkington Recs of St Helens on Saturday to move up to fourth in the league.
Matt Calland rang the changes in the team, due to unavailability and injury – but the new and young players, particularly Cole Connolly, stepped up to the mark.
Led by ‘older’ heads Liam Whalley, Wayne English, Aiden Gleeson and Sean Watkins, they performed well to score eight tries in front of a large and appreciative crowd.
A minute’s silence for former Mayfield player Norman Halsall was impeccably observed and the home side shot out of the blocks, pressurising the Pilkington runners on their own line and forcing an error on only the second tackle.
Four plays later Aiden Gleeson smashed through the defence to score under the posts. Zac Hartley goaled for 6-0.
Pilkingtons dug in but Mayfield kept their defensive line speed up and again forced a drop ball.
Two play the balls later, Declan Sheridan darted to the blind side and found Matty Ashton in space and he dived over, too wide for Zac Hartley to goal.
It was 16-0 on 25 minutes when Declan Sheridan, until now feeding the forwards with good early ball, dummied and sliced through the line, rounding the cover easily for a Hartley converted try.
Pilkingtons were on the ropes, but Mayfield were over exuberant and when a loose pass was scooped up, Pilks outpaced the cover for a try.
The visitors upped their game and improved their defence but with the half time whistle looming, Gleeson and Jimmy Connaughton charged forward and got quick play the balls for Lewis Sheridan to nip in from short range. Gleeson goaled for 22-4 at half time.
Pilkingtons hit the ground running in the second half as, following an Ashton knock on, they scored from a neat offload for 22-10, then intercepted on their own line to go full length for 22-16 to go just a score behind.
The last half hour was all Mayfield though as Connolly scooted over for a first team debut try, goaled by Zak Baker, then Lewis Sheridan got his second try, rounding the defence from a 20 metre scrum for 32-16.
Pilks hit back to 32-20 as Mayfield’s left side defence switched off on 60 minutes, but two tries in the last 10 minutes sealed it for Mayfield.
First, a neat inside pass at the ruck on the half way line saw Wayne English race 40 metres downfield to put Lewis Sheridan in for his hat-trick try, then the ever willing runner Andy Taylor – playing well in the middle of the park – used good late footwork to score from 10 metres out under the posts.
Gleeson converted both for a 44-20 final score - a fitting tribute to former player Norman Halsall.
Lewis Sheridan. Andy Taylor, Lewis Butterworth, Liam Whalley, Kieran Hamer. Cole Connolly, Sam Butterworth. Seta Tala, Declan Sheridan, Aidan Gleeson, Sean Watkins, Zac Baker, Zac Hartley. Jimmy Connaughton, Jack Sampson, Wayne English, Matty Ashton.