Longton travelled to Leicester Road for the latest round of matches in N3M. Hinckley welcomed back Alex Salt and Ben Marshall with Sam Massarella at hooker on the front row rotation. Luke Coltman, Tom Sanderson and debutant Alex Norris made up the bench.

Hinckley kicked off and made good ground down the slope in a number of cohesive phases. However, Longton opened the scoring with a Grant Hallam penalty after missing an earlier attempt. Mark Lord also missed a penalty for the home side, but Hinckley were getting into their stride just having the better of the territorial battle. Good work keeping the ball behind the defence by Lord and some strong running by Sam Greasley put the pressure on Longton. Hallam missed another penalty and Hinckley immediately swept into the visitors half with strong carrying from Alex Salt, Tom Morris and Luke Coltman. It was from a dynamic rolling maul that Ben Avent controlled possession and with a little help from his friends pushed Longton back over their own line for Hinckley’s first try. Lord converted to move the home side out to 7-3. Almost immediately Hallam atoned for his earlier miss by converting a penalty after Matt Fearn was caught offside and yellowcarded.

Half time arrived with the score at 7-6 in Hinckley’s favour and game well and truly on.

Bearing in mind Hinckley started the half with fourteen men the home side kept the pressure on and were rewarded with a penalty which Lord dispatched between the posts for a 10-6 lead. Alex Norris replaced Josh Smith and from one of his strong runs out of defence, the forwards put together some excellent phases with Coltman sliding over for Hinckley’s second try. Lord converted for a 17-6 lead.
On the hour Mitch Culpin put a grubber kick behind the Longton defensive line, a fumble from a defender and Greasley was on hand to kick through and win the race for the touchdown.
Lord couldn’t add the conversion, but a commanding 22-6 lead and the prospect of a bonus point try was on the cards.
However, it was not to be as the game became an arm wrestle after Hinckley had lost Avent to injury. Longton put the home side under considerable pressure in their own red zone with penalty scrum after penalty scrum. Sandbach, tongue in cheek, would have been proud with the lack of “proper rugby” shown by their near neighbours.
Dave Peck was yellowcarded which made the Hinckley situation worse, but the whole side responded magnificently to keep Longton out and drive out of danger ably led by Coltman’s "verbal encouragement”. The match boiled over from a lineout in front of the stand and a number of players from both sides were lucky to stay on the field of play after punches were thrown. Ben Marshall and Longton’s Joel Booth were given their marching orders for an early bath.
For the remainder of the game Hinckley were on top and through a rolling maul nearly scored the bonus point try while a Joe Glover break was stopped just short by the visitors.
The final whistle was blown by the referee to draw the game to a thankful conclusion.

Next week a trip to the Derby Road ground of Loughborough for a first round County cup clash.