A large crowd descended on West Vale for a rearranged fixture with Heath. In team news, one change with Olly Depledge returning at scrum half, Dom Flanagan started at right wing after being on the bench last week with Jack Marshall at 15.
On a bright and breezy afternoon, Heath kicked off and Cleckheaton quickly cleared downfield. After winning a line out, the ball was switched down the 5 metre channel and Mike Hayward eluded a couple of would be tackles, Tom Hainsworth was on his shoulder and drove over the line for his 14th try of the season, Dale Breakwell pulled the conversion across the posts , 0-5 after 3 minutes. Heath got their hands on the ball and showed some determination going forward but couldn't open their account. The next score came on 13 minutes, Dom Flanagan launched a clearance kick out of defence which looked to be going over the dead ball line, but it held up and Heath conceded the goal line drop out. On the restart the ball fell into the hands of Dale Breakwell who dropped the goal from 45 metres to extend Cleckheaton's lead to 0-8. This represented his 500th point in Cleckheaton colours. On 23 minutes, the visitors conceded a penalty 30 metres out and Eddie Cartwright kicked the goal 3-8. Heath were now getting into the game and it led to their first try after multiple phases close to the line Jon Cole was awarded the try, the conversion was wide but the game was level at 8-8 after 30 minutes. Josh Plunkett was shown a yellow card for collapsing the maul in the lead up to the try. Niall Jackson entered the game replacing Ben Thrower. 5 minutes later , Cleckheaton were back in front after good work down the right by Brambani and Flanagan who popped a pass to Brad Marsden who had plenty to do but forced his way over the line for his 2nd try of the season, Dale Breakwell added the goal 8-15. There was a frantic end to the first half as Cartwright kicked a penalty on 39 minutes and when a Dom Flanagan kick was charged down, Heath swept downfield with a 50-22 kick and Pilcher scored a try , converted by Cartwright in added time to give Heath a half time lead 18-15.
At the start of the second half Cleckheaton seemed to up the game a little more but one or two opportunities went begging with a bit of sloppy handling. On 47 minutes , Dale Breakwell kicked a simple penalty to level the game at 18-18 and 6 minutes later repeated the process with a long range effort to give Cleckheaton the lead at 18-21. Heath's forays in the visitors half were limited to a couple of committed forward drives but were guilty of turning the ball over in contact. Richard Piper left the game with an ankle injury on 70 minutes with Ryan Piercy replacing and forcing a pack reshuffle. Heath kicked another penalty from Cartwright on 71 minutes to tie the game again and on 75 minutes they took to lead with a 50 metre penalty goal from the same player , 24-21. Cleckheaton hammered away at the Heath line in the closing stages and with a minute left to play in normal time Tom Hainsworth powered his way to the line for his 15th try of the season, Dale Breakwell added the extras and that meant Cleckheaton led 24-28, there was time for the restart and Cleckheaton drove the ball in and denied Heath the chance to snatch a victory try. Dom Brambani hoofed the ball of the pitch and Referee Andy Baker brought a pulsating game to a conclusion.
Cleckheaton deserved the win and the 4 points that came with it , the excellent run of form continues, this was the 9th win out of 11 games .
Next week, Pocklington visit Moorend kick off is at 3:00 pm