Latchford get off the mark at last

Haresfinch 25 Latchford Albion 30
LATCHFORD gained their first victory since promotion to the Premier Division thanks to a 78th minute try, on debut, by hooker Phil Woolacott in a tense game at Haresfinch.
It was the hosts who started strongly, and crossed out wide in the opening exchanges to open the scoring.
Albion’s response came when Lewis Johnson held off two attempted tacklers to barge his way over next to the posts.
Shortly after George Briggs continued his recent scoring form when, following a good break by Max Caldwell, he outpaced the oncoming defence to score and with Briggs converting both tries, Latchford began to take control of the game.
Joe Clarke extended Albion’s lead further when he picked off a loose pass and had enough pace to race 80 metres to score.
The hosts did hit back when, on the stroke of half time, they registered a converted try to leave the half time score 10-18.
Latchford started the second half on the front foot and, following good work by the forwards, the ball was shipped out wide where centre Craig  Woolvine exploited an overlap and crossed out wide, Briggs converting from the touchline.
Haresfinch reduced the deficit with a well worked converted try and shortly after full back Luke Hickman was sin binned, for a professional foul, the hosts taking full advantage by scoring a further try and converting to leave the score tied at 22-22 after 60 minutes.
The hosts kicked a drop goal to take the lead before both sides traded penalties to leave Haresfinch leading by one point going into the closing minutes.
Latchford found some good field position and with the Haresfinch defence expecting the visitors to attempt a drop goal to level up the game,  Woolacott sold an outrageous dummy and crossed under the posts to seal a
maiden victory for Albion, making Briggs’ conversion a formality.
Coach Dave Yii said: “We are pleased  to get our first win. We’ve shown signs recently of what we can achieve so it’s nice to finally get the victory.
“We’ve had quite a few new faces join us and they’ve settled in really well.  We still have a lot to improve on as, we won the game with a shockingly low completion rate, that will be our downfall in other games
and it’s something the lads are aware of and we will continue to work on in training.”
Albion now have a free weekend before an away trip to Heysham Atoms RLFC on April 22.