HEPWORTH grabbed a vital three points to put daylight between themselves and the relegation zone with a solid 2-0 victory at a cold and windswept Greetland Community Centre.

Following the heavy overnight rain and with a mixture of sunshine, hail, rain and a strong cross field wind blowing throughout the game, this was never likely to be a pretty spectacle but both sides stuck to their task to produce an entertaining game for the frozen spectators.

Greetland were first to take the initiative with some tidy passing from Jake Richmond and Jack Walsh and, although Rahees Ahmed went close on a couple of occasions, Hepworth defenders Ashley Lockwood, Luke Brooker, Jack Wallis and Ryan Kirby formed a solid wall which the home side were unable to break through.

After surviving Greetland’s opening salvo, Hepworth’s Jake Clayton and Cameron Sanderson began to make their mark in midfield and the opening goal, which came as a result of their endeavours, was scored when Jordan Saville found the corner of the net to give Hepworth a hard earned lead.

Although the rest of the half was end to end football, both defences were in good form and, except for a couple of half chances for Ahmed, which were comfortably dealt with by keeper Ashley Lockwood, the only danger came from long range shots which troubled neither keeper.

Ahmed almost grabbed what would have been a deserved equaliser within minutes of the re-start but a goalline clearance denied the dangerous Greetland striker yet again.

Despite Greetland’s efforts, Hepworth were growing stronger amid the hail showers and when, for the first time in the game, home defenders James Cowling, Matthew Scholefield, Rob Wright and Ben Richmond lost their concentration, Cameron Field was on hand to take full advantage, sliding the ball past onrushing keeper Ciaran Gibson to double Hepworth’s advantage.

With 20 minutes still to go, Greetland pressed forward in an attempt to salvage something from the game but, despite Ahmed providing a series of telling crosses and Ryan Seekins, Jack Walsh and Jake Richmond crowding the home sides goalmouth, they were unable to fashion a clear shot on target.

Greetland still had to be on their guard as their push for goals left them exposed and only a Ben Richmond goalline clearance prevented Saville adding a third for Hepworth.

Walsh almost grabbed one for Greetland in the dying minutes of the game but his shot skimmed the wrong side of a post.

Greetland gave as much as they got throughout this game between two evenly matched sides and probably deserved more for their efforts but it was Hepworth who took their chances and can now breath a little easier with a four point gap and games in hand over the bottom four.