Heathfield 10 Thanet Wanderers 0 – match abandoned
Anti-climax is the only way to describe today. After twelve minutes the match had to be abandoned because the referee had been injured and was unable to continue.
In perfect conditions with the pitch looking excellent with a decent grass covering and just taking a stud, Heathfield kicked off and almost immediately regained possession through skipper Gus Taylor. This started a sequence of phases of home possession across the pitch which ended with a penalty in front of the posts and Toby Simpson duly slotted the three points.
From the restart Heathfield secured possession and continued to play with good tempo. Thanet did start to come into the game but their lineout misfired twice and Ollie Tooke made one excellent interception so Heathfield were mostly on the front foot playing with impressive accuracy.
Lineout ball was moved into midfield where centre Harry Reilly cut back towards the left hand side and a long pass found Tom Cormwall who dived over in the corner. Simpson converted impressively.
However almost directly from the restart Reilly again received the ball and went on another run only to collide with the referee. He was attended to by both physios but it soon became apparent that he was not able to continue. Efforts were naturally made to find another referee but to no avail and the game had to be abandoned. He was last seen departing in the back of an ambulance and we wish him a speedy recovery.
Thanet were thus left with the long journey home and another hefty bill for coach hire. Both sides now face further fixture congestion as the game will have to be fitted into an already crowded calendar which is causing concern, especially for Heathfield with limited playing resources.
Next week Heathfield renew an old rivalry when they make the short journey to Crowborough for the next Counties 1 Kent league game (24 Sep 3.00).