St. Helens 38

Halifax Blue Sox 6

By MELANIE MOORE

KARLE Hammond underlined his claim for an improved deal for next season with a man of the match display in Saints' 36-6 mauling of Halifax on Sunday.

A sun drenched crowd of 7,762 saw Hammond provide one of his best performances to date for the club.

In Tommy Martyn's absence, Hammond, out of contract at the end of this season and seeking a better deal from the club, took complete control of the game from the stand off position.

He had a hand in five of Saints' six tries and further enhanced his display with two cheeky drop goals, the first just after the break - to leave the Yorkshire visitors with a mountain to climb at three scores down.

Ably supported by Paul Sculthorpe, who finally seems to be finding his record signing feet at loose forward and the ever impressive Sean Long, Hammond's gesture to the crowd when he sent Anthony Stewart in 15 minutes from time and can only send one message to Saints new coach, Ellery Hanley - I want to stay.

Saints looked far hungrier for the two points than when they visited third place Halifax earlier in the season.

Despite going behind to a Martin Pearson penalty on three minutes when Paul Aitcheson failed to roll away from the tackle, they never looked back after Kieron Cunningham crashed over after five minutes and Long converted.

Halifax closed the gap 10 minutes later when Paul Davidson was penalised for stealing the ball in a two man tackle and Pearson landed the penalty, but this only seemed for spur Saints on.

Winger Chris Smith went close but was bundled into touch by the Halifax cover defence before Karle Hammond kicked off his one man demolition job, putting a perfectly timed short ball through to Davidson who strolled through.

Davidson even had time to raise the ball above his head in celebration before touching down. Long converted for a 12-4 lead after the opening quarter.

Hammond was unlucky not to go over himself on 26 minutes when an outrageous dummy seemed to give him a clear run to the line but Halifax scrambled. Maybe a prolonged run in the stand off role would give him an extra yard.

Long hit the post with a penalty but Saints extended their lead when an unstoppable Perelini went in from 15 yards out and Long converted.

A disappointing Halifax side could only add a third penalty from Pearson as they trailed 18-6 at the break.

The first of Hammond's two drop goals edged Saints further ahead in the second half before tries from Atcheson and substitute Antony Stewart, both created by Hammond and a touchline conversion from Long, saw Saints cruising at 31-6.

A second drop goal from Hammond and a final try from Anderson after Hammond's chip kick over the defence, completed the scoring at 36-6.

Had Hanley been at Sunday's game, it will surely have given him something to think about when he enters into contract talks with some of Saints' unsettled stars at the end of the season.

As for Shaun McRae, Saints soon to be ex-coach, he will surely have taken satisfaction from his side's convincing performance as they claimed their place in the inaugural grand final play-offs.

Halifax may have been disappointing with Gary Mercer out of position at stand off, but with victory over fifth place Bradford a fortnight ago and a visit to likely league runners-up Leeds tonight, Friday, Saints may yet be relishing a possible fifth showdown with Wigan at Old Trafford.

Saints: Paul Aitcheson, Chris Smith, Vila Matautia, Paul Newlove, Anthony Sullivan, Karle Hammond, Sean Long, Brett Goldspink, Keiron Cunningham, Julian O'Neill, Apollo Perelini, Paul Davidson, Paul Sculthorpe. Substitutes: Ian Pickavance, Paul Anderson, Anthony Stewart, Paul Wellens.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.