Malton and Norton

L 31-24

League

07-12-2019

Scarborough - 1st XV

By Charlie Hopper

Scarborough fell to their third successive defeat after being beaten 31-24 against rivals Malton. Having trailed 24-12 at half-time they staged a spirited fight back only to fall short at The Gannock.

Simon Smith’s side suffered an early blow prior to kick-off as skipper Drew Govier was forced to drop out with Chris Purdy starting and Lewis Cowlishaw coming on to the bench and despite this they made a solid start looking increasingly dangerous in attack. Despite a positive first five minutes, the home-side were the first to score. Winger Ali Fothergill receiving the ball out wide only for him to neatly off-load to flanker Matt Bowman who crossed under the posts for a converted try at 7-0. In the 15th minute the returning Henry Hocking found space behind the defence and looked to kick and chase. Once he collected the ball it was passed wide and Aaron Wilson managed to avoid the tackles to crash over for his sides first points, the conversion was missed for 7-5. Straight after the restart the home-side were able extend their advantage with a penalty in front of the sticks to leave it at 10-5. Both sides then looked to take control of the game but fly-half James Bulmer broke through the tackles to sprint over for a converted try to extend his sides lead to 17-5. On the brink of half-time Malton could increase the deficit between the sides as Rob Featherstone forced his way over after his side were camped on the Boro line. With only seconds to go before the break full-back Tom Harrison managed to find space in the line and off-load to fly-half Tom Ratcliffe who could score and convert for 24-12.

The first twenty minutes of the second-half was played predominantly in the home sides half with Scarborough wasting key opportunities to score. They constantly applied pressure but lacked quality in the final stages of the attacks. Despite losing newest recruit Komiti Tuilagi to a shoulder injury the gap between the sides was shortened in the 65th minute. The ball was neatly passed out-wide and Henry Hocking could collect and crash over for an unconverted try at 24-17. The game was then brought level straight after the restart. Bulmer’s kick didn’t reach 10 metres and Ratcliffe could collect and break forward. He off-loaded to winger Jonty Holloway who flicked a pass back to him to score and convert for 24-24. It looked like the Silver Royd outfit might snatch an unlikely victory with ten minutes to go but a Malton try halted any momentum. Jacob Stephenson collecting the ball and bundling over for another converted try for his side to extend the lead to 31-24. Both sides picked up yellow cards towards the end of the game and despite a late attack Scarborough couldn’t break through the Malton defence and fell to their fourth defeat in five games.

 

 

 

 

 

Teams

Scarborough: 1. joe nellist 2. stuart smyth 3. matty jones 4. will leah 5. luke brown 6. aaron wilson 7. jordan holloway 8. chris purdy 9. jordan wakeham 10. tom ratcliffe 11. jonty holloway 12. henry hocking 13. komiti tuilagi 14. angus frend 15. tom harrison
Substitutes: 16. sam pollock 17. tom read 18. lewis cowlishaw

Scarborough News "Man of the Match": aaron wilson

He had to play in three different positions throughout the game and managed to bag a vital try and stand out at the set piece.