Brods grab last gasp penalty try to beat Goole and claim top spot
Old Brodleians returned to the top of Regional 2 North East with a thrilling 21-19 win at fellow high flyers Goole.
Brods got off to a great start, with Dom Georgiou and Ben Barron making inroads and taking play near the Goole line. A number of pick and drives followed before Barron scampered over the line after just four minutes. The try was converted by Josh Kelly to make it 7-0.
However, after a spell of play from end to end, the powerful Goole back row were making headway and on 10 minutes they hit back with an unconverted try of their own in the left corner following a slick passage of play.
Goole remained in the ascendancy and they extended the lead on 25 minutes, again crossing in the left corner and adding the conversion to make it 12-7.
The visitors then suffered from a spell of indiscipline and on the half-hour mark Lee Imiolek was yellow carded for what appeared to be a trivial offence.
Despite being a man down and facing intense pressure, the Brods heroically held out until half time.
Rob Jennings and Elliot Craven were outstanding with relieving breaks and youngsters Charlie Culf, Jackson Wood and Jamel Goodall never gave an inch.
The second half began in the same way as the first peiord finished with Goole looking the more likely to score and they did just that, a long mazy run by their impressive full-back gaining advanced field position to set up a converted try that put the hosts 19-7 up and in control with just 10 minutes of the game remaining.
Brods weren’t finished however and following a long passing movement the visitors were held up short but a Goole infringement resulted in a scrum. Brods forwards were now in control and number eight Rob Jennings scored a trademark try, converted by Kelly.
At that point it looked like Brods had salvaged a bonus point as they headed for the final minutes of the match, but more was still to come.
Strong running from Goodall, Wood and Ashton put the Hipperholme men within five metres of the try line and, with time running out, Brods were awarded a penalty. They chose to scrum and after the third attempt, Goole were guilty of preventing a score and a decisive penalty try was awarded on the last play of the game.