L 26-14

By Charlie Hopper

Out-of-form Scarborough slipped to their sixth consecutive defeat as Percy Park took their chances and the rub of the green to win 26-14 at Preston Avenue.

Simon Smith’s side started the game in a positive fashion with the backs linking up well to cause the Percy Park defence trouble. Despite the encouraging start, Park were presented with the chance to score the game’s first points. They won a penalty midway inside the Scarborough half but fly-half Ash Smith put the kick wide to leave the game deadlocked. In the 20^th minute the home side scored the game’s first try completely against the run of play. Having lost the ball, outside centre Ali Blair collected the ball and raced under the posts for a converted try for 7-0. The visitors looked to respond in the best possible way applying more pressure on the Park line. The lead was extended in the twenty-eight minute when a quickly taken penalty caught Scarborough off guard and captain Seb Reece crashed over for his sides second converted try for 14-0. Park continued to defend well as Tom Harrison went close on the stroke of half-time, managing to find a gap, break clear, only for him to watch his grubber kick bounce into touch.

The second-half started in completely different fashion as Percy Park scored straight from the kick-off. Jordan Wakeham forced a handling error and Tom Ratcliffe collected to put his side into a dangerous position. Instead of spreading the ball wide, he looked to delicately kick the ball over the defence only for Blair to intercept and run the length of the pitch to score his second try. The conversion sailed between the posts to stretch the home sides lead to 21-0. The visiting fans finally had something to shout about in the 46^th minute as the returning Angus Frend scored his sides first converted try. Following persistant pressure the centre bundled his way over to reduce the arrears to 21-7. The Silver Royd outfit then had to show spirit in defence to keep themselves in the game and they continued to force errors in the Park attack. Micheal Groves try in the sixty-second minute however proved the ultimate blow for Smith’s side. The ball was spread out wide as the winger collected and raced over the line to score in the corner. The difficult conversion was blown wide by the strong winds to leave the score at 26-7. With the clock ticking down the chances missed were proving costly as Euan Govier broke through only for his off-load to be knocked-on by Luke Brown just short of the line. The Scarborough backline then managed to string together a beautiful move in the 76^th minute and find their way just short of the Park line. After building the phases full-back Tom Harrison found a gap in the defence and scored a converted try directly under the post to close the gap to 26-14. Despite a late attack, Simon Smith’s side slipped to another defeat despite showing glimpses of what they are capable of.

Teams

Scarborough: 1. nino cutino 2. stuart smyth 3. matty jones 4. luke brown 5. will rennard 6. will leah 7. euan govier 8. aaron wilson 9. jordan wakeham 10. tom ratcliffe © 11. jonty holloway 12. henry hocking 13. angus frend 14. jack anderson 15. tom harrison
Substitutes: 16. joe nellist 17. jordan holloway 18. lewis cowlishaw (all used)

Scarborough News "Man of the Match": luke brown

Luke put in another inspired performance gaining metres in attack and proving vital in defence. Nino Cutino also impressed throughout the whole gam