Wigan Rose Bridge 18 Thatto Heath 27 THATTO Heath twice came from behind to seal a place in the North West Counties League Premiership Cup Final.

Rose Bridge started the better of the teams and two Sean Cassidy penalties edged the Wiganers in front. Then in the 16th minute a high up and under from prop forward Lee Cassidy was won by scrum-half Mark Cassidy and he scored left of the posts. But Heath started to get into the game and centre Martin Ford crossed for their first try on 25 minutes. And five minutes later a determined run down the left by winger Mike Woods put Heath in a great position to score again. Loose-forward Carl Cooper benefited when the ball flashed through five pairs of hands and he scored in the right hand corner. Full-back Wayne Jackman hit a well struck conversion to put Heath in front for the first time.

Rose Bridge hit back immediately when another towering kick was fumbled by the Heath defence, Sean Cassidy was on hand to score and hit the conversion to put Bridge 14-10 up.

A penalty in the last minute of the first half from Wayne Jackman brought Heath to within two points.

Three minutes into the second half Jackman scored a fine try for Heath after Carl Cooper had made a fine break down the middle of the field. Jackman then scored another superb try when he linked up into the line on the hour mark, to put Heath in front by six points. With 10 minutes left Heath's influential scrum-half Barry Ashall sent a wonderful drop goal sailing through the uprights from 30 yards, four minutes later Heath virtually killed off the Wigan outfit with the try of the game. Second row Darren Blanchfield interpassed with prop Littler, who then slipped a well timed ball to Nigel Morris, Morris drew the defence and sent Peter Derbyshire free and the speedy winger raced 30 yards to score in the corner. Jackman hit a wonderful touch line conversion to make it 27-14.

Rose Bridge showed a great fighting spirit and scored the final try of the game when winger Rob Winstanley dived over in the corner.

Darren Blanchfield was in superb form for Heath along with Wayne Jackman and Paul Littler, although it was a fantastic team performance that warned Heath a great victory.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.