TWO POINTS DOWN AT
60 MINUTES, PLAYERS UP TEMPO FOR VICTORY
AN arctic blast greeted the YM at the Gannock knowing that only a win against mid-table Malton would do to keep the pressure on North 1 East table-toppers Scarborough.
With underfoot conditions good despite the recent heavy rain, both teams contributed to a very competitive game.
Having been 10–8 down at threequarter time, YM upped the tempo in the final quarter to run out winners against a very workman-like Malton outfit.
YM set off like a house on fire, putting the home defence on the back foot and only good defence and a couple of wrong attacking options kept the Malton line intact.
YM did eventually get onto the scoreboard when, after 10 minutes, Gavin Stead converted a penalty from in front of the posts.
They continued to have the lions’ share of possession but still could not break the resolute home rearguard until the 25th minute when scrum-half Joah Bradley touched down wide out. From a solid set scrum on the Malton 22 the ball was moved quickly into midfield where Stead put Van Rooyen through a gap in the home defence.
The big centre made good ground before being tackled just short of the line, the forwards secured the ball and scrum-half Bradley threw an outrageous dummy to fox the covering defence and touch down.
In the very blustery conditions Stead was unable to add the extras. The score seemed to wake the home team up as they changed tactics and started to use their lively forwards to pick and drive at the heart of the visitors’ defence.
Good YM scrambling defence kept their line intact but on the stroke of half-time Malton got their reward with a try by the posts when prop forward Featherstone crashed over the line to touch down. Poole added the conversion to leave the game in the balance at half-time.
The second period started as the first had ended with Malton continuing to press the YM defence. In a game being played hard but fair there followed a bizarre five minutes when both teams were reduced to 13 men as first YMs Slater and Malton’s Foan were shown the yellow card followed almost immediately by YMs Stead and Malton’s Bowman for what seemed very innocuous incidents.
On 56 minutes Malton took a deserved 10-8 lead with a Poole penalty.
With both teams back to full strength, YM upped their tempo and the remaining quarter of the game had Malton on the defensive. On 64 minutes from a scrum deep in the Malton half the ball was recycled several times to stretch the home defence before Stead crashed over by the posts. Stead converted to give the YM a five-point advantage.
With time almost up man of the match Stead made the game safe for the visitors with penalty when the over-eager Malton defence were caught offside in front of their posts.
Fletcher, Tetley, Van Rooyen, Stead, Burns-Smith, Bull, Bradley, Dyke, Hill, Slater, Black, Housley, Tindall, Davidson, Hodge. Subs(all used) Scholes, Appleby, Lumb.