HALF CENTURY MALTON AT THE GANNOCK

Malton welcomed Bradford and Bingley (Bees) to the Gannock with former player of both clubs Jimmy Stewart in the crowd. A spot or two of rain sent owners of soft tops scurrying to close either electrically or manually the hoods of their precious charges. The rain however came to naught.

Bees opened the scoring on the third minute with a well worked opener, the kick pass to the winger perfectly placed for him to run on to and score wide out for 5 points only. Malton replied immediately with Bulmer following his own kick to collect and score for 5 points only.

On 10 minutes a Foan hack through and follow up was rudely interrupted by a tackle off the ball from behind resulting in a penalty try and a yellow for the perpetrator.
Malton took advantage of the extra man with Bulmer receiving a long kick, bringing it forward, engaging the defence and offloading to Poole deep in Bees territory. They coughed up a scrum and unable to take the Malton pressure ceded a penalty quickly taken by skipper Triffitt which saw Foan over the whitewash adjudged held up by the young quality referee. This coincided with a yellow awarded against Hughes for rough play.

Malton were now on the attack but sloppy passing in the Bees red zone led to an intercept by their 13 who demonstrated his wheels to score a 7 pointer on 22 minutes.
Three minutes later the aforementioned 13 showed his qualities with another breakout, it must be said due to indifferent tackling but he threw the scoring pass forward.

On 30 minutes again Bees broke out with a deep kick and a mix up between Malton’s rearguard gave them position .Malton in this opening 30 minutes guilty of indifferent sloppy passing, coughing up ball at  will which resulted in the Bees no13 making fools of the defence over a 15 minute period.

On 35 minutes Bowman with Malton in the visitor’s red zone betrayed his roots as a back rower showing his power, leg drive and willpower to ground the ball to collect a 7 pointer.
On the stroke of half time Bees against the run of play converted a penalty to leave the score line delicately poised at 19 -15 to the hosts.

The delicate situation lasted all of 4 minutes as Malton scored the first of 33 unanswered points over the next 40 minutes.
Forward dominance was the bedrock of the second half performance and from this base Malton corrected the sloppiness of the the first half and showed their capabilities which fingers crossed will see them through tougher fixtures ahead.

On 42 minutes Bell collected a yellow for a deliberate knock forward but despite being one man down Malton pressured the visitor’s line to drive Lamb over the line for 5 in the corner with Poole adding a fine conversion.

Malton now moved smoothly through the gearbox and on 62 minutes a scrum twenty metres out resulted in a straightforward no8 pickup and feed to Angus to romp in for the 7 points.

At this stage the blistered feet of Featherstone got the better of him and he was withdrawn for Hopkin’s first appearance of the season, with Emms being replaced by Barker minutes later.
With Bees heads visibly dropping Malton now scored at will.

Bell on 71 minutes hacking through and a kindly bounce produced a 7 pointer.

Three minutes later a good deep kick out of defence and a swift follow up with flankers prominent saw Bees rocking on their heels. Malton earned a put in and a Triffitt pickup at the base found it’s way to Bowman who obliged dotting down for 5 with extras.
On 78 minutes a Foan dash down the touch line gave him the try that was denied him in the 10th minute of the game. The wide out shot at a conversion was missed but this in no way detracts from a superb tee kicking display by Poole who in tighter games will be invaluable in securing bonus points of differing kinds.
A satisfactory end to the game puts Malton in good heart for next weeks game at Scatcherd Lane, Morley where your reporter will luxuriate in the privacy of a press box, see you there!

PS. Congratulations are due to former Malton junior Cameron Nordli Kelemetti who has now appeared twice on the bounce off the bench for Newcastle Falcons playing at no9. Our small club can be justly proud of adding him to the roll call of premiership players produced by our age grade section.

Malton:   James Bulmer,  Ali Fothergill,  Tom Foan,  Matt Bowman,  Will Bell,  Shane Poole,  Paul Angus,  Nick Salisbury,  Bailey Lamb,  Rob Featherstone,  Will Dunn,  Sean Emms,  Will Hughes,  Tom Lowry,  Sam Triffitt (c).

Subs:    Nick Embleton,  Thomas Barker,  Pete Hopkins, (all used).

Scorers:    Bulmer   1try
                   Bowman   2tries
                   Lamb    1 try
                   Angus   1 try
                   Bell   1 try
                    Foan   1 try
                    Penalty Try (7 points)
                    Poole     5 cons.