BY the cheers that greeted Heworth as they walked off Batley Bulldogs' Mount Pleasant pitch, you could have been mistaken for thinking they had won the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Challenge Cup itself.

Unfortunately for the amateurs, they had fallen to a 34-4 defeat, but only after they had put in a performance worthy of so much more.

In front of a strong travelling support, Heworth made Batley work for every one of their points as they battled across every inch of the quagmire of a pitch.

Having suffered the indignation of a 70-0 thrashing 12 months ago, it was easy to think that the Northern Ford Premiership giants would swat aside the National Conference League division two outfit again.

But Heworth had obviously learned their lesson from that defeat and with the persistent rain and muddy pitch acting as a great leveller, they showed no fear.

Brendan Carlyle, a seasoned former professional, used every trick in his book and scored the club's only points with an opportunist's try, while Mick Harrison, Nikki Wilson and Lee Clarke put in some crunching - and often crucial - tackles.

In fact, everyone of the 17-strong squad had reason to hold his head up high at the final whistle and the congratulations were fully justified.

Heworth got off to a dreadful start as Dave Carling made a hash of dealing with the Batley kick-off, knocking the ball on over his own line.

However, the left wing quickly made amends when Batley loose-forward Paul Harrison was made to eat turf as Carling put in a telling tackle.

The reprieve for Heworth was shortlived. Ryan Horsley released Chris North, who handed off Richard Darling on his way over.

But Heworth regrouped and came roaring back.

With Nigel Wilson and Jason Gatus doing the hard yards, Carlyle opted to kick Jason Kane's heel back on the fifth tackle instead of picking it up. The ball bounced off two Batley defenders and back into Carlyle's hands for the experienced half-back to dive over. At 4-4 after 21 minutes Heworth were certainly in with a shout of upsetting the odds.

The wake-up call for the Heworth fans came four minutes later as Mark Cass found Chris Hough, and the pacy half-back was through to score.

A further score followed as Paul Harrison off-loaded to Roger Simpson to out-pace the Heworth defence, with Hough converting.

Within 11 minutes of the restart Batley effectively killed the Heworth resistance with two tries.

First Andy Spink was the grateful recipient of a scoring pass as the Heworth defence was overrun, and then Paul Harrison slipped through the grasp of Carlyle - the former York man's only mistake - to sprint 50 yards for a try.

Hough added two conversions to leave Heworth 26-4 down.

Heworth did show sparks of a revival, Nikki Wilson and Mick Harrison both striving to break the Batley defence to no avail.

What Heworth lacked in attack, they more than made up for in defence - with Wilson producing the tackle of the match to deny Horsley a simple try.

However, despite their efforts, the dangerous Danny Maun added another try just after the hour as he made the most of an overlap.

For 20 minutes, Heworth attempted to work their way over for a second try, but despite the driving efforts of Steve Barnard, Sam Clark, Clarke, Simon Harrison and Carlyle and the ingenuity of Mick Harrison, Wilson, Carling, Nathan Witty and Grant, they found the Batley defence impregnable.

And as they pushed forward, they were caught by the old sucker punch as Maud coasted home for his second try of the match.

It was a cruel blow for a muddy and bruised Heworth side, but their efforts were admired by one and all at Mount Pleasant.

Batley: Simpson, North, Horsley, Maun, Gleadhill, Hough, Tomlinson, Naidule, Cass, Spink, Wright, Cart-ledge, P Harrison. Subs (all used), Gibson, Bostock, Toohey, Sozi.

Heworth: Darling, Carling, Nikki Wilson, Witty, Grant, M Harrison, Carlyle, S Harrison, Cochrane, L Clarke, Nigel Wilson, Kane, Barnard. Subs (all used), Foster, Gatus, S Clark, Green.

Referee: Ben Thaler (Featherstone).

Attendance: 486.

Updated: 12:18 Monday, January 28, 2002