W 18-14

By Charlie Hopper

Scarborough RUFC made it four wins in a row after they beat local rivals Bridlington, 18-14, at a packed Silver Royd.

Following last weekend’s thrilling win over Rochdale, Matty Jones’ side knew that a win over their local rivals would close the gap to safety in Regional Two North East. He watched his side dominate the early exchanges and take an early lead when Tom Harrison slotted an early penalty in the sixth minute. Harrison was called into action again minutes later as he added a second penalty and stretched his sides lead to 6-0. Scarborough went close again in the 21^st minute when Joe Davies passed to Connor Ward but the winger knocked-on just metres from the line. The lead was extended to 11-0 in the 28^th minute when Davies collected Tom Ratcliffe’s pass to score close to the corner. Davies continued his fine form and almost doubled his tally when he looked to have scored but he was penalised for pushing the Bridlington winger.

The second half started in scrappy fashion but it was the visitors who scored their first points of the match through Matiu Welch. The full back found space and scored to the right of the posts. Josh Stanyon added the conversion for 11-7. The game was then immediately turned on its head when Welch finished off a good move to give his side the lead at 14-11 with less than 20 minutes to go. The home side responded five minutes later courtesy of a try from Will Rennard who took the ball from the scrum and scored in the corner. Harrison made light work of the conversion to wrestle back the lead at 18-14 as the game headed towards a nervy conclusion. Scarborough were then forced to play the remainder of the match with 14 men when Sam Dawson was shown a yellow card in the 77^th minute. Bridlington pushed hard in the final minutes, in a bid to steal the points, but struggled to find a way through a resolute defence.

Scarborough are at home again next weekend, as second place Old Brodleians visit Silver Royd