Hunslet win League One Shield: Report & Audio

Dave Parkinson

Hunslet proved too strong for valiant London Skolars in the League One Shield Final.

Liam Mackay opened scoring in this entertaining after eleven minutes, winning the race to a grubber kick under the posts and Joe Sanderson converted. The hosts looked like adding further points three minutes later when Marcus Webb broke but his inside ball was kicked dead by his support.

Within sixty seconds Skolars scored their first try when Lamont Bryan bowled over under the posts from close range and Jymel Coleman goaled to make it 6-6.

The game continued to be tight until George Flanagan found space behind the play-the-ball and beat a defender before racing twenty metres to the posts for Sanderson to goal.

Hunslet then lost the services of halfback Joel Gibson to injury although Wales World Cup training squad member Danny Ansell came on to steady the ship.

Skolars again responded claiming a well worked try as the ball came left from player-coach Jermaine Coleman and Lameck Juma produced a cheeky pass inside for Michael Brown to dash round to the posts, having taken two defenders with him. Jymel Coleman goaled to make it 12-12, but crucially Hunslet scored again before the break when a switch play down the right was finished in the corner by James Duckworth and Sanderson struck the touchline goal.

The second half started perfectly for Hunslet with Ansell providing the guile for Mackay to claim his second try. That pushed the score to 22-12.

Dave Williams saw a try disallowed for the visitors before Sanderson added two penalties within minutes of each other. The first came as a result of a high shot while the second was from the restart when a short attempt ended up bouncing towards the half-way line again.

Skolars continued to battle away with only good Hunslet defence preventing raids from Brown and Juma. It was Hunselt that had the final say, scoring a few seconds from the end after Sanderson stole the ball from the grasp of Mike Bishay and Duckworth followed up in support for his second try. A sixth goal from Sanderson was the icing on the cake, wrapping up a 32-12 success.

After the game Love Rugby League caught up with both coaches.

First London Skolars boss Jermaine Coleman:

Then Gary Thornton from Hunslet:

League 1 audio