Preston Grasshoppers 70, Huddersfield 19: ​Hoppers put bottom side Huddersfield to the sword

OK, the Yorkshiremen are rock bottom in NatIonal League Two North, but they are a big outfit and have taken a couple of top-six clubs close in recent weeks, so Hoppers have every right to be delighted with this scoreline.Keay said: “The first half was definitely good - we connected with everything we wanted to do - but we were a bit sloppy in the second half.“There were some cracking tries and we have shown that we now have a viable squad, with guys pushing each other for places.”Hoppers shuffled the side from the heavy defeat at Otley and Keay said: “The guys who came in did well.”In a performance in which everyone played their full part, skipper Scott Richardson “had his best game for us”, hooker Harry Holden “did really well”, and there was fulsome praise too for fly-half Will Hunt, prop Mike Ashdown and new scrum-half Joe Harrison.Hoppers’ tries came from a satisfying mixture of quick-thinking tap penalty moves, powerful line-out drives, slick handling, tackle-busting breaks and energetic support play, while, on the other side of the ball, they stood up well to some bruising, battering bursts by the big Yorkshire pack.Hoppers ran in three tries in the first 11 minutes, pocketed the bonus point within 27minutes and stormed to an unassailable 49-7 lead by half-time.Gutsy Huddersfield fought back to edge the third quarter, despite a couple of yellow cards in the 10 minutes either side of the break - Hoppers’ flanker Rob Willetts was also handed a spell in the sinbin - but the hosts reasserted their authority to collect three more touchdowns before the final whistle.Richardson and centre Jacob Browne both bagged a brace of tries, while Harrison, Willetts, Hunt, Holden, winger Harvey May and lock Ally Murray chipped in with one apiece.In addition to his try, Hunt landed a perfect 10 out of conversions in difficult windy conditions for a personal haul of 25 points, taking him beyond 150 for the season.Huddersfield’s tries came from lock Alex Dawson, centre Alex Nash and winger Paul Harrison, with full-back Lewis Workman landing two conversions.The win lifts Hoppers back up to 10th with another home game to come next Saturday against 12th-placed Billingham.