Mansfield make it three wins on the bounce and Hinckley claim local bragging rights as they return to winning ways.
Hinckley RFC
Hinckley completed a five try win over South Leicester in a hard fought encounter in the mud. Hinckley have now beaten by South and Leicester Lions both home and away to secure local bragging rights. The bonus point victory also saw the Hornets maintain second place in the league.
It was far from an easy victory with first blood on the day going to South when Hinckley were penalised for not releasing 35m from their line and the Southโs skipper Ricky Aley stepped up to score.
The visitors responded decisively just two minutes later. Leicester overthrew a defensive line-out with the loose ball picked up by Hinckley with Sam Driver going over the line in the corner with Joe Wilson converting to put the Hornets 3-7 ahead after 10 minutes.
Following a quiet 20 minutes a solid scrum on the South 10m line saw good ball travelling along the back line and James Martin broke through with a superb angles run to score near the posts. Wilson added the conversion and 10 minutes later added a penalty to give Hornets a 3-17 lead going into the break.
From the re-start, a loose ball was hacked on by Ben Marshall and eventually found itโs way to Martin who jinked through the fractured South defence to score under the posts. Things looked comfortable for the visitors when Wilson again converted to take the score to 3-24.
South flanker Dan Ireland was then carded for striking an opponent but South were still not going to roll over easily. A binning for Hornetsโ Luke Coltman coincided with the return of Ireland and South were able to mount a sustained assault on the Hornetsโ line.
Myles Bean went over in the corner for South after a quick tap penalty by Aley, and on 69 minutes South again breached the Hinckley line to score. Aley converted and at 15-24, the game was suddenly very much back on.
Wilson put the kick-off straight out and a quick thinking Aley elected to take a quick line-out throw which could have put South in for a further try. Fortunately for the Hornets, Mitch Lamb intercepted the throw and was bundled into touch 5m out. This proved the turning point. Hinckley stole the resultant line-out and then secured a penalty.
A kick to the corner and a catch and drive saw Southโs prop carded and South were forced to go to uncontested scrums. Hornets took the scrum penalty and Deaville eventually drove over to secure the bonus point โ 15-29.
The home sides resistance was finally broken and the Hornets could easily have added more scores in the closing minutes, in the end they added one more try from James Squire.
After last weeks disappointment against Sale this was a good win for Hinckley against a South team who had yet to be beaten at home this season. Hornets are still very much in the promotion hunt and go into next weekโs game against relegation threatened Sheffield in with confidence high.
Mansfield Town FC
Mansfield made it three wins in a row with a 3-1 Sky Bet League Two victory against bottom-of-the table Barnet at One Call Stadium on Saturday.
The visitors bellied there lowly position in the early stages, having the better of the chances, but The Stags eventually started to exercise some control over proceedings and eventually took the lead just before half-time. January Player of The Month Alex McDonald breaking the deadlock in spectacular style. McDonald curled home a brilliant shoot from the edge of the error giving Craig Ross in the visitors goal no chance and putting Mansfield 1-0 up at the break.
Shortly after the restart, McDonald could have added his second. Hemmings headed the ball down but from six yards out, the Mansfield goalscorers shot across goal went just wide.
The Stags didnโt have to wait long though as just ten minutes into the second period Mansfield added their second of the afternoon to take control of the game. A corner from the left hand side was headed goalward by on-loan striker Kane Hemmings and midfielder Will Atkinson nipped in to prod the ball home for his first every goal for the Stags.
In the 71st Mansfield added their third of what was proving to be a fairly comfortable afternoon. Top Scorer Danny Rose was once again the man in the right place at the right time as he converted winger CJ Hamiltons cutback with a cultured finish into the bottom corner. It was Roseโs 15 goal of the season and owed plenty to the driving run of Hamilton.
A clean sheet would have been the icing on the cake for the home side but alas it wasnโt to be and Barnet grabbed a late consolation, Stags defender Rhys Bennetts header back was short and Simeon Akinola nipped in to poke the ball past Conrad Logan in the Mansfield goal.
Ultimately this was a comfortable win for The Stags and they sit in fourth place in the league just a point behind Notts County who occupy the final automatic promotion spot.