Dramatic late drop goal denies Atoms away win

A poor start to the first half saw the Atoms 6-0 down within the first five minutes as an error was quickly followed by a penalty to give Haresfinch easy yardage and put the Atoms back on their own try line.

They repelled the first wave of attacks but spilled the ball needlessly when back in possession which was inevitably gobbled up by the Haresfinch attackers as they scored their first try.

As with last week it was Jamie Cottle linking with his centre Jack Edmondson that got the Atoms their first try.

A neat pass and a straight line of running was enough for Edmondson to carve an opening for his seventh try of the season.

An excellently executed planned move then saw stand off Dan Helme put Antony Livingstone under the posts with a superb line of running from the centre.

Michael Forrest’s quick thinking coupled with his even quicker feet gained him a try again right under the black dot, giving Livingstone the easiest of conversions for a 16-6 lead.

A lack of concentration for the Atoms undid the good work as a sloppy piece of play gave Haresfinch their second try just before the break as the Atoms went into half time 16-10 ahead.

However, the Atoms’ lead was frittered away within minutes of the restart – two penalties for high shots and a missed tackle was all that it took for the sides to be locked up again at 16-16.

An Atoms attack was then intercepted and Haresfich re-took the lead closely followed by a successful penalty goal giving the St Helens side an eight point cushion with 15 mins remaining.

Curtis Lacey has been on a fine try scoring run in recent weeks and he again added to his total, scoring from a reverse pass around the back of the ruck which Billy Livingstone converted and then two minutes later he kicked a penalty goal to level the scores again at 24-24.

The tension was ramped up in the closing stages as both sides kicked another penalty goal to make it 26-26 but when the Atoms failed to collect the next kick off Haresfinch intelligently marched forwards down the middle of the field and kicked the all important one point drop goal to claim victory in this memorable dog fight and put Haresfich on the same competition points as the Atoms.