Rugby League: Kells 14 - 16 Rochdale Mayfield

Rochdale Mayfield - Zac Hartley celebrating match winning goal

Mayfield faced the long trip to top Cumbrian side Kells and came away with the prize of a place in the third round of the Ladbroke’s Challenge Cup, and possible professional opposition.

Mayfield made the long journey the night before, in order to arrive fresh.

A scrappy first 10 minutes with plenty of errors, meant Mayfield had little field position, but forwards Callum Marriott, James Shaw, Jimmy Connaughton, Paul Brearley and Sean Watkins held firm in defence until a Kells repeat set gave the home side a try in right corner. The conversion was missed.

Continued mistakes meant Mayfield had little ball in the Kells 20 metre zone but when they did on 20 minutes Lewis Sheridan chased down a Sam Butterworth grubber kick for a try. Too wide on the left side for Butterworth to convert.

Mayfield almost took the lead. Declan Sheridan and Lewis Sheridan quick hands engineered a break for Matty Ashton, and the centre streaked down the right only to be halted agonisingly short.

Kells took advantage of the injury time, and some fortunate calls, to drive to the Mayfield posts where they were awarded a simple penalty for a Seta Tala shoulder charge.

Kells converted for a 6-4 half time lead.

Early in the second half, Kieran Harmer gathered a neat Zac Baker attacking kick and jinked inside the cover for a try. Butterworth missed the conversion.

Mayfield looked the better side when not making errors or conceding penalties, and they were held up over the line a couple of times.

However, Kells scored a short range try that they converted to take back the lead.

Mayfield had 20 minutes left to secure the win though and they dug deep in defence and threatened the Kells line in search of the match winning try. It came with some great play from man-of-the-match Lewis Sheridan, as he chased a chip kick and dribbled it to the line to touch down. Zac Hartley converted to give Mayfield a deserved lead.

Kells were awarded a dubious penalty in the dying seconds when Lee Registe reacted to a cheap shot in added time. Kells converted to draw level at 14 -14 and the referee's whistle signalled that nail biting, golden point extra time was on the cards.

Mayfield were not to be denied though as they took the deep kick off and charged up field, then the gale force wind worked for Mayfield as the Kells full back couldn't handle the clearing kick. From the resultant scrum, Mayfield worked to get into drop goal position. Kells could only stop Callum Marriot's strong charge with a high tackle, and the referee had no option but to award a penalty just to the right of the posts.

The stong wind made it less than a formality, but Zac Hartley stepped up to slot his kick through for two points, a memorable victory and passage to the third round of the world's oldest and most famous rugby cup competition.

The draw on Tuesday evening should produce another tie against professional opposition, to be played on Saturday 25 February, but in the meantime, Mayfield have the small matter of the RFL Championship One cup action against professional team Barrow Raiders, this Saturday at Mayfield Sports Centre.

Mayfield Team: Lewis Sheridan. Lee Registe, Matty Ashton, Matty Chrimes, Kieran Harmer. Zac Baker, Sam Butterworth. James Shaw, Callum Ogden, James Connaughton, Callum Marriott, Sean Watkins, Paul Brearley. Seta Tala, Declan Sheridan, Nick Hargreaves, Zac Hartley.