L 21-24

By Charlie Hopper

Scarborough edged out in derby day thriller.

Scarborough slipped to an agonising defeat against rivals York 24-21 in their North One East fixture at Silver Royd. Having lead 21-3, the visitors staged a thrilling come-back to snatch victory.

After a relatively tough start to the game the home side were dealt with an early blow as experienced prop Nino Cutino was stretchered off in the second minute, Joe Nellist coming on in his place. The persistent rain, which fell for large parts of the game, meant that both teams conceded unforced errors in the middle of the park. The first real opportunity saw winger Jonty Holloway dance through tackles and win his side a penalty. Tom Ratcliffe stepping up to make it 3-0. Despite some extremely resolute defending, the visitors found themselves with an opportunity to kick for goal and Fly-half Declan Cusack made easy work of it. This levelling the game at 3-3 in the 37^th minute. The game wasn’t level for very long though, Ratcliffe again kicking a penalty which was to the left of the posts to give his side a 6-3 lead going into half-time.

The second-half started in similar fashion but in the 46^th minute Jonty Holloway crashed over. It was an almost identical try to last weekend at West Hartlepool, scrum-half Jordi Wakeham kicked the ball over the defence and Holloway raced past the York full-back George Davies to score. Ratcliffe’s conversion fell agonisingly short of the posts leaving it 11-3. Former player Cade Robinson was the first player to receive a yellow card and this presented Simon Smith’s side with the perfect opportunity to take control of the game. Four minutes later and they did just that. Inside centre Billy Parker driving through the York defence to score a converted try, the lead extending to 18-3. Luke Brown calmly took the restart and his side looked to move back towards the York line. Having kicked the ball forward, they pressured the full-back who sliced the ball into touch. From the resulting line-out, the Silver Royd outfit were gifted a penalty after a high tackle and Ratcliffe made easy work of the kick. His side extending their lead to 21-3. Despite some exceptional defensive work on their own line, the Clifton Park outfit managed to score a converted try, Lewis Hannibal bundling over to close the game to 21-10. In the 70^th minute, replacement Jordan Holloway was given a yellow card for a foul. Two minutes later and York managed to score again in the corner. Cusack converting from the left touchline to close the game to 21-17. The comeback was then complete on the 75^th minute, Cusack picked the ball up and sent a cross-field kick over to winger Rob Hodges who collected and scored in the corner. Cusack once again converting from a difficult angle to give his side the lead for the first time at 24-21. It looked as if that had knocked the stuffing out of Simon Smith’s side but a line-out 10 metres out presented them with the perfect opportunity to steal the game. Despite going within touching distance of the line, Chris Purdy was driven into touch and the referee blew the final whistle. After Driffield won at Bradford & Bingley, it drops Scarborough to second place with a trip to Durham City to look forward to next Saturday.

 

 

Teams

Scarborough: 1.nino cutino 2. stuart smyth 3. matty jones 4. luke brown 5. phil watson 6. euan govier 7. chris purdy 8. drew govier © 9. jordan wakeham 10. tom ratcliffe 11. jonty holloway 12. billy parker 13. angus frend 14. tom anderson 15. henry hocking
Substitutes: 16. joe nellist 17. jordan holloway 18. phil stewart

Scarborough News "Man of the Match": billy parker

Billy Parker continued his fine form bagging himself a try and contributing across the park. Luke Brown and Jonty Holloway also had exceptional games.