By Paul Brown

The score line reflects that with a full squad and good playing conditions Sandal are a lot better team than when they played Scunthorpe in the away league fixture less than a month ago.

The early part of the game was riddled by Sandal giving away endless penalties. They were finding it difficult to break out of their own half. As the game settled, a strong home defence gave Sandal some decent possession. The ball was worked up to the away team's try-line where prop and man of the match Calvin Mitchell scored under the posts from 5 metres. Scunthorpe equalised with a very similar move. From the restart the home team hit straight back. The ball won in midfield was passed out from Mitchell to the left where wing Jack Guy helped push Ibrahim Shamchiyev into the corner to score. Sandal were looking in control but managed to give away another penalty to allow their opponents to narrow the margin to only 2 points at half time.

Positional changes at half time gave Sandal the edge in the second half. Cam Allen had a strong influence on the pace and direction of the way Sandal played. Gaps were beginning to appear as the away team tired and Sandal took advantage. After some loose play Mitchell again threw a delightful pass to Guy who sprinted in from 30 metres. Sandal looked in control and could look for further scores. Yusif Shamchiyev was always there in defence especially under the high ball and Joe Wareham made some strong tackles in midfield. The forwards looked far more dynamic in the second half over-turning and picking up loose ball. A strong defensive tackle saw the ball knocked on and was cleaned up by Cam Allen who passed a quick ball to Elliot Butler who weaved in to score. The game was won and there was just enough time for Will Joyce to score from 20 metres after Elliot fed him a pass which he did well to collect from behind him. Joyce’s power and pace showed why he is looking back to his best and is hard to stop once he is at full tilt. Once Sandal settled into the game they looked well in control and were able to revolve the forwards without it effecting their overall play. Cam Lees looked positive at scrum half and his speed of pass fed both forward runners and movement of the ball away from the breakdown. He kept the ball in hand allowing fast flowing rugby. A hard fought win,but well deserved.