Spiers triple helps Heath to maintain dream start

It was the away side that opened the scoring with only five minutes played when a clearance kick eluded the home defence and centre Will Harrison pounced to touch down.

Heath's response was immediate however and from the restart hesitant play from Scunthorpe allowed Callum Harriott-Brown to steal the ball and go over for a try, converted by Chris Johnson.

Sam Fletcher went under the posts for a second try, again converted by Johnson, to put Heath 14-5 up with 18 minutes gone but Scunthorpe reduced the arrears through Harrison’s penalty shortly after.

The visitors were now playing with confidence as they went in search of adding to their score and the Heath defence had to be solid to keep them at bay.

The home side turned defence into attack and from a maul, Alex McFadden emerged with the ball to score, Johnson converting, with 25 minutes played.

On the half-hour, Ian Downsborough was introduced from the bench but was then yellow-carded and Scunthorpe took advantage by scoring a try that reduced the gap to eight going into the half-time break.

The hosts’ lead was cut again three minutes into the second half when Scunthorpe kicked another penalty but the home side hit back, Elliott Spiers crossing for a try that settled the nerves.

Scunthorpe continued to battle but they lost a prop, resulting in uncontested scrums, and from the restart the Heath pack forced a penalty try that made it 33-16.

A fine spell of play from Heath was rewarded with a try from Spiers, converted by Chris Johnson.

Scunthorpe responded with more attacking play but, when Spiers collected a loose ball in his own 22, he set off on a 70-metre run to complete his hat-trick.

Matthew Hallett waltzed in for a final try just before full time to round-off an excellent victory for Heath, who are now second in the table ahead of Saturday’s trip to strugglers West Bridgford.

Heath seconds also made it four wins on the spin with a 50-10 triumph over Goole.

Tries came from Cook, Dance, Bruce, Scrimshaw, McLaughlin, Sharp and Cartwright.