THE last play of the game saw Millom edged out 22-20 by Waterhead on the opening day of the National Conference League Division Three season, writes Elliot Burrow.

Waterhead dominated the early exchanges but could not convert good field position and Millom took the lead on 10 minutes when Niall Harris crossed over in the corner.

The visitors responded well though and on 25 minutes Ross Crawford powered over up the middle, followed by Keenan Brennan slotting the conversion.

It was not long before Waterhead were in again, this time Matt Holland scoring a converted try similar to their first.

The Woolyback finally broke a strong Waterhead defence again on the stroke of half-time when Harris dived over in the corner for his second unconverted score of the afternoon, cutting the deficit to 12-8.

The hosts started the second-half the better and Dom O’Brien took advantage of some more poor defence to level the match at 12-12

Millom scored again five minutes later through star man Jonathan Hodgson, who somehow found his way through the right-hand side to put Millom in front by four points.

But back came the visitors once more and although Jenson Hamilton looked to have knocked on in the build-up, he scored in the corner. Brennan made it three from three with his kicks.

Adam Kelly then kicked two penalties to edge Millom back into the lead, but the last-minute drama thwarted them.

Waterhead punted the ball long off the scrum from inside their own 20 metres and regained the ball before running another 60 metres up the pitch and offloading for Hamilton to score.