L 5-17

By Charlie Hopper

Scarborough slipped to their second defeat in a row at the hands of rivals Malton & Norton after a disappointing performance saw them fall to a 17-5 loss in the rain on Saturday.

Scarborough were dealt with an early blow in midweek, loosing influential skipper Drew Govier to injury, with club stalwart Joe Marshall taking the reigns as captain for the first time. His side came out the blocks firing and took control of the game inside the first ten minutes. Winger James Long weaved his way through the defence before finding Tom Harrison out wide, and the fullback crashed over in the corner. Joel Little missed the conversion for 5-0. The visitors then hit straight back in the 18^th minute with a converted try of their own. Fullback Ali Fothergill broke clear out wide before a handful of offloads found a Malton man and he scored under the posts for 7-5. At the end of a blustery first-half, where both sides had failed to show any real quality, Malton extended their lead. Aaron Wilson was shown the game’s first yellow card and the resulting penalty was kicked for 10-5 at half-time.

The second half started in similar fashion, this time Tom Harrison receiving a yellow card for a late tackle, leaving Scarborough with 13 for the next phase of the match. The Malton dominance continued, and they extended their lead courtesy of a fortuitus try from replacement James Bulmer. Tom Ratcliffe’s high kick bounced between Scarborough players and into the arms of Bulmer who raced clear and scored under the posts. The conversion was successful for 17-5. Searching for a way back into the game, the Silver Royd outfit came close on numerous occasions, but struggled to make inroads into the Malton defence.

Scarborough are back on the road on Saturday for their final away trip of 2022, with a tough visit to league leaders Moortown, who lost to Pontefract last weekend.