L 15-9

Scarborough slipped to their 3^rd defeat of the season after falling to a 15-9 defeat away at Morley.

The visitors made the perfect start to the game after they won a penalty in front of the posts with fly-half Tom Ratcliffe making easy work of the kick to give his side an early lead at 3-0. Despite the flying start, Morley hit back with an unconverted try in the 6^th minute. The ball was spread wide and Outside Centre Larne Patrick crashed over in the corner for 5-3. Scarborough responded in the best possible way applying pressure on the Maroons defence but were soon penalised for holding onto the ball in the ruck. In the 11^th minute winger Mae West almost collected his kick over the top but he knocked the ball on agonisingly short of the line. Simon Smith’s side showed resilience when under pressure and managed to win the ball back on their own line. In the 16^th minute, a perfectly weighted kick over the top was collected by winger Joe Marshall but his off-load was lost backwards by Jonty Holloway. In the 26^th minute Luke Brown received the game’s first yellow card after an infringement at the ruck and the home side made use of the extra man as they scored the game’s second try. Once again the ball was moved wide and West found space to cruise over, the conversion was missed by Mark Chester for 10-3.  A late tackle from skipper Drew Govier in the 34^th minute presented Morley with the chance to go for the corner again. The ball was collected from the lineout and as the maul crossed the line prop Alex Fishwick collected to score his sides third unconverted try to stretch their lead to 15-3. The first half was brought to a close after Ratcliffe added another three points to his sides total for 15-6.

Having survived an early scare at the start of the second-half, the gap was shortened as Ratcliffe kicked his third penalty to reduce the arrears to 15-9. Smith’s outfit continued to show great character in defence to once again deny the opposition. In the 58^th minute they superbly stole the ball back and kicked clear to relieve the pressure. The Scatchered Lane outfit responded and broke quickly through the line only to fall short due to them knocking on close to the Scarborough line. The momentum continued to swing and with ten minutes to go Boro looked to apply the pressure in search of a match-winning try. Ratcliffes teasing cross-field kick bounced well for Jack Anderson but West collected for the home side and was bundled into touch. In the 74^th minute the ball was lost forward in a dangerous position and scrum-half Richard Knowles could box-kick straight into the oppositions 22m. Having struggled to break down the Morley defence, Ratcliffe kicked clear but when full-back Harrison Baylis called mark he conceded a free-kick. The ball was spread wide from the attacking scrum but was soon lost in the tackle. Scarborough falling to their third defeat in five games

Teams

Scarborough: 1. joe nellist 2. stuart smyth 3. matty jones 4. luke brown 5. phil watson 6. chris purdy 7. euan govier 8. drew govier 9. jordan wakeham 10. tom ratcliffe 11. aaron wilson 12. billy parker 13. angus frend 14. joe marshall 15. jonty holloway
Substitutes: 16. sam pollock 17. will leah 18. jack anderson (all used)

Scarborough News "Man of the Match": jonty holloway

In a game which the opposition defended well, Jonty managed to cause problems going forward. Angus Frend also had a strong performance.