Ultimately, at the end of a 26 game season the team that finishes at the top of the league table deserves to be there, and it is only right that Scunthorpe should be congratulated on a fantastic achievement and they deserve the reward they have gained.

For Hinckley, it is to the play offs with the league slipping away just 11 minutes from the end when the home side lead extended to beyond 7 points and therefore taking away the losing bonus. It is a position Hinckley should never have been in, but the cold hard facts are they where. The Leicester Road side now face Wirral on the 30th April at home to decide who will be joining Scunthorpe and Sheffield Tigers in National 2 North next season.

The game, played in conditions more like January than April started terribly for Hinckley conceding a try to Colin Chapman inside the first minute, however from the restart the visitors, with the wind at their backs camped themselves inside the the home half and after a missed penalty attempt, levelled the game up at 5 all with a smart finish from top try scorer Callum Dacey.

Tom Morris was soon after sent to the sin bin for a maul offence but Hinckley managed to repel the impressive Scunthorpe maul, worked their way down field and scored themselves whilst down to 14 through Matthew Fearn. Before half time both kickers exchanged penalties to send the visitors in 13-8 up.

That was however as good as it got with Hinckley adding no more points and Scunthorpe scoring two tries, a conversion and a penalty, with Ben Avent spending 10 minutes in the bin during the half. Hinckley had no clear cut opportunities in the half, but blew chances to create them through missed kicks to touch and a crucial one, where just before the referee was about to give Hinckley a scrum under the scunny posts for a knock on, he then over turned for a high tackle.

So have topped the table from week 4, the spot was lost with just 11 minutes to go in the final game - the challenge now is to get up for the play off fixture which will be a fantastic occasion at Leicester Road, with the county cup final the following Tuesday.