James Knock
A dank gloomy afternoon set the scene as the teams and match officials lined up to observe two minutes silence for Remembrance Weekend.
Malton set off with a solid set scrum including debutant Leon Cook in the engine room to take them to the Moortown red zone, but the lack of discipline which hangs over the Ryedale outfit soon manifested itself as a penalty was given up and position lost. Moortown who employed a mix of strong midfield runners and speedy wingers recovered and a long diagonal kick to space caught Malton’s no15 on the hop but Collier with a good scoop recovered the situation to prevent a probable score.
On 10 minutes Malton were back at the business end but the fifth penalty of the afternoon put paid to any notion of crossing the home whitewash.
However recovering themselves, in the next 5 minutes a patient build up and a series of set pieces gave Bulmer the chance to break blind and after another catch close to the turf Collier was over the line for a 7 pointer in the 15th minute. 7-0
On only 20 minutes Malton’s skipper was summoned by the referee for a penalty totting up warning. Moortown put the ball in the corner and a regulation catch and drive followed. 7-5
On 30 minutes the patience of the referee ran dry as Read was the fall guy for a totting up yellow card. Moortown opted for a scrum 7 metres out in front of the sticks but with the scrum wheeling and Triffitt packing down on the flank in a seven man scrum he followed the ball round and taking the ball out of the Moortown no9’s sweetie jar made 10 metres and hoofed it downfield to the home 25 metre line in front of the uprights and Moortown were jackalled to give a shot at goal which unfortunately missed the target.
The penalty count against Malton was now too high to record and slapping the ball out of someone’s hand immediately after conceding a backchat 10 metres is not required behaviour at this level.
Malton survived the 10 minutes with a man short and the interval chat ( normally private) could be heard from the touch line as both skipper and coach harangued the squad concerning the discipline or rather the lack of it.
On resumption Lucas Oxley made his senior debut with Hopkins giving way and this was followed shortly afterwards with skipper Triffitt leaving the action after a chat with acting team physio Rosie.
Following the reshuffle Malton were 35 metres out from the home line and as Moortown tapped down a loose line out ball Angus burst through caught the ball and crossed the try line unmolested to register a 7 pointer in the 46th minute. 14-5
As the weather improved marginally Malton now looked to consolidate and preserve at minimum the two score margin against an outfit that had during the first half on occasion demonstrated the contents of their locker.
With inspirational skipper Triffitt now a spectator he and a healthy number of travelling Malton supporters watched in dismay the unravelling of a side devoid of confidence, discipline and direction.
In the 60th minute Dunn was shown yellow for side entry at a breakdown and Moortown took the 3 points on offer. 14-8
A missed touch kick minutes later gave the speedy home winger the chance to display his credentials as he skipped down the touch line beating several would be tacklers. 14-13
The remaining 3 tries and 17 points arrived at regular intervals to heap misery on a dispirited team who now need to gather themselves, look each other in the eye and where possible train together, and with only a third of the league programme completed rescue their season as soon as possible.
Next week we welcome old friends Morley to the Gannock and a booked out pre match lunch together with a good weather forecast should whet the appetite for the 2.15 kick off and Malton’s renaissance.
MALTON: Ali Fothergill, Bill Collier, Jacob Stephenson, Jack Jones, Will Bell, James Bulmer, Paul Angus, Nick Salisbury, John Vasconcelos, Pete Hopkins, Will Dunn, Leon Cooke, Henry Cornforth, Charlie Reed, Sam Triffitt (c).
Subs: all used, Lucas Oxley, Archie Johnson, Harry Alngohuro.
Scorers: Collier 1 try
Angus 1 try
Bulmer 2 cons
