Ilkley v Heath, 7th September 2024
It’s always good to start the season at home, even if last Saturday’s opponents were Heath, a side that finished second to Harrogate in the league last year and have beaten the Dalesmen in their last 6 encounters.
The close season witnessed the usual comings and goings, but all in all, those selected included mostly names familiar to the Ilkley supporters. An injury to skipper Joe Lowes meant Ben Magee assumed that role.
Ilkley made a bright start and looked good with ball in hand, also pinching a Heath line early on. The resultant attack led to the visitors conceding a penalty for a high-tackle, which Charles Morgan unfortunately pulled wide.
A clearance kick by Heath was collected on the full by Magee, who was able to show a clean pair of heels to several would be tacklers before offloading to his support. Unfortunately, a pass didn’t go to hand and the advantage was lost.
Then it was the visitors’ turn to mount an attack when Ilkley held on too long in the tackle. The evergreen Chris Johnson took his side to within 30m of the Ilkley line. Heath’s pack showed what it was capable of, but Ilkley held out and earned a drop out from under the posts.
Back came Heath and when Ilkley were forced into conceding another penalty 25m out, Johnson put his side ahead on 21 minutes, somewhat against the run of play.
The score seemed to inject some extra vitality into the visitors and Ilkley had some defending to do, as Johnson’s boot got to within 5 metres. A knock-on was good news for Ilkley and even more encouraging was winning a penalty at the resultant scrum.
Winger Ben Walker took a beautifully weighted pass and made good ground, but the move broke down with a knock-on and Heath were able to clear.
The concession of a scum-penalty looked ominous, but the visitors were repelled after successive line-outs on the Ilkley 22, Jack Maplesden clearing well.
The Dalesmen were finally rewarded with a score when Heath went offside at a line and with the half drawing to a close, Morgan notched the goal to leave the game all-square as Mr.Potts signalled the end of the first 40 minutes.
Magee led the charge for Ilkley’s first attack of the second half, but back came Heath and at the next breakdown, Morgan had to leave the field to be replaced by Matty Sheard.
Heath opted for a scum when Ilkley were penalised, but their Number Eight, Tom Clough was held up and Ilkley were able to drop out. This gave them the platform to counter and when Magee was late-tackled, Sheard’s penalty earned a line on the Heath 22.
This was well won and the ball spun left through many pairs of hands, before Pete Erskine touched down on the left through a melee of players. The conversion fell short.
Ilkley’s backs then proved a point or two with some great inter passing before debutant Freddie Clark scored a great try. Again the conversion was missed, but Ilkley were now 10 points clear of Heath at 13-3.
It would be fair to say that the visitors were not happy about that and out came the coshes. The visitors’ pack is an impressive unit and whilst the home defence did its utmost, with some magnificent tackling, eventually the pressure told and Erskine was yellow-carded.
Ilkley’s misfortune was compounded five minutes later, when Jamie Slator was also given a yellow, as Heath piled on the pressure. Taking full advantage of their numerical superiority, left wing Jack Haynes went over despite Harry Harrison’s attentions, Johnson adding the extras. 13-10 now, going into the last quarter.
Playing against any side with 13 men is not to be recommended and after just three more minutes, what was left of the Ilkley defence crumbled, Clough battering his way through, giving Johnson the easiest of conversions to take the lead with a quarter of an hour to play.
Magee departed the scene with a shoulder injury and Erskine returned, but Heath’s momentum was there and following yet another penalty, centre Ezra Hinchcliffe scooted over. Johnson proved he was human by hitting the post with the conversion attempt, which was to prove costly.
Back to full strength now and with Magee back on, the full-back combined beautifully with Maplesden to see the scum-half score under the posts, Sheard kicking the goal; to make it 20-22 with five minutes left on the clock.
Johnson then had yet another opportunity to make up for his miss and duly despatched the long-range penalty to make it 20-25.
With just three minutes to go, Johnson was awarded another penalty when running straight into an Ilkley defender, but possession was lost and up popped Harrison with the ball at speed. With 40 metres to the Heath goal line and half the Heath team in front of him, a score looked highly unlikely, but Harrison had other ideas.
His mazy run left the Heath defence in tatters and the team’s jubilation as he went under the posts was a joy to behold. Sheard held his nerve with the kick and Ilkley were not only back in the lead, but had a try bonus point to boot. With the clock showing time was up, was there time for a restart ?
Well, yes, there was. And more ! Mr. Potts’s watch was clearly in a different time-zone and Ilkley had a nerve-tingling couple of minutes left. Fortunately, their discipline held and after patiently playing the phases, Sheard was able to hoist the ball over the stand to signal the win.
This was a great victory, with Ilkley playing to their strengths and generally, not allowing Heath to play their game as normal, so all credit to Rhys Morgan’s coaching team and to the players who played to the plan.
Next week, Ilkley face Alnwick and they can go into this game brimming with confidence. There were some surprising results on this opening day, with relegated Huddersfield losing at Sandal and newcomers Percy Park and Selby winning their games against Driffield and Blaydon respectively.
It’s going to be an interesting season - but what a start Ilkley have made !
Sean Crannigan
9.9.24
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