Bank Quay Bulls 12 Thatto Heath Crusaders 26 THATTO Heath quickly stamped out any fears of a shock upset when they went to division five hopefuls Bank Quay Bulls on Saturday in this Lancashire Cup quarter final clash.

The built up a 12-nil lead after 22 minutes. A Mike Woods penalty was followed by tries from Anthony Marsh and the score of the game from second rower Phil Southward who raced fifty yardafter his second row partner Carl Cooper had broken the Bulls line and put him through.

Bank Quay's only first half reply came just before the break from the boot of Lee Williams from a penalty for a high tackle.

Martin Harvey added his name to the score sheet with a late penalty to give Heath a 14-2 half time lead.

Harvey could have been on the sheet as early as the fifth minute when he scored what appeared to be a brilliant solo try only for the referee to reverse his decision after consulting with the touch judge.

This was a hard fought physical battle from start to finish with both packs working hard both in attack and defence. The level of play from Bank Quay made a mockery of their division five status. They were never overawed by Heath and had a glimmer of hope after 15 minutes of the second half when prop Lee Westwood dived over for a try from acting half back and Williams goaled.

Stand-off Barry Ashall who was doubtful right up to the kick-off, sold two outrageous dummies to the Bulls defence before strolling over to score to get Heath's third try.

Within four minutes the Bulls grabbed their second out wide through Karl Turner to remain in the game. But that was as close as they got. Mike Woods barged over his third goal of the game and Heath capitalised on the Bulls being reduced to 12 men, when determined running and a superb lay off by replacement prop Paul Littler put Woods away down the wing for a try which he goaled himself.

Thatto Heath man of the match was Martin Harvey and Peter Derbyshire. Thatto Heath

Crusaders under 15s 16

Waterhead 4

Crusaders winning ways continued with this emphatic performance. Tries were scored by Gaz Bowes, Mike Saunders and Keiron Maddocks, with joint Kays Welding man of the match Carl Forber kicking two conversions. Kev Brown was joint man of the match and Tim Critchley was top tackler.

Crusaders under 14s 22

Wigan St Judes 18

Crusaders turned the form book upside down to defeat the previously unbeaten table-toppers. Their try scorers were Mark Beech, man of the match James Graham (2), and Ryan Cunningham. Shaun Terry added three conversions.

Ince St Williams under 13s 44

Crusaders 14

Crusaderstried hard but lost to a better Ince side. Try scorers were Newall, Quinn and Kenyon with goals added by Cunliffe.

Rylands under 12s 4

Crusaders 34

Tries came from Dave Roughley, Jack Clark and Tom Mowatt with goals from Andy Stott. Man of the match and top tackler was Matthew Halliwell and coaches awards went to Andrew Abbott and Mark Slinger. Crusaders under 11s 36

Crosfields 6

This was another impressive team performance both in defence and attack against an improving Crosfields outfit. Points came from man of the match Jamie Pennington (two tries, goal), Ben Robinson (try and goal), Craig Dearden (try), Tom Beech (try), Danny Chantler (two tries, goal), Paul Eyres (try), Jon Kerry, Ryan Robinson and Tom Carsley added the other goals. Jenny Welsby, Paul Eyres and Tom Beech impressed to earn coaches awards and Jon Kerr was top tackler.

Crusaders under nines 46

Saddleworth 32

Try scorers for Crusaders were man of the match Chris Kinsey (3), top tackler Matty Harris (3), unsung hero Danny Hughes and Matt Devlin. Coaches awards went to Mike Parry and Carl Foster. Most improved was Matt Jackson and Chris Smith also was unsung hero.

THE Junior Section of Thatto Heath Crusaders have appointed Barry Diggle as coaching administrator for their under nines to under 18s age groups.

Barry has coached at the Rugby League's Centre of Excellence and was a member of the coaching staff at this year's Great Britain and Ireland Player Development Camp at Ampleforth.

He is currently Coaching Co-ordinator with Saints, on their Continuous Improvement Programme (CIP) and will continue in this role.

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