Not firing on all cylinders
Jon Richards
After direction from The RFU and extensive discussion between the 2 clubs the decision was taken to play the local derby with Scarborough, this was not a decision taken lightly. A minutes silence in remembrance of Her Majesty was observed impeccably by all those present at the Gannock before the whistle blew for kick off.
It was two much changed teams from the opening game of the season facing off against each other but this was not evident from Scarborough has they placed Malt under pressure for the first 10 minutes of the match. On 15 minutes Malt controlled a midfield scrum enabling the ball to be shifted through the hands allowing speedster Weatherill room to dart down his wing and over for his first score. 5 - 0. Scarborough then pushed Malt deep into their own 22 for a sustained period before a break out from Malt and slick movement across the field allowed Lockwood to break clear. A dummy in the midfield with Fothergill split the Scarborough defence and allowed Weatherill to score in the corner after a strong carry from Tenge.
From the kick off Scarborough continued with exerting pressure on the Malt defence. This 30 minutes of play can only be described as scrappy. There was no real structure to the game from either side. Malton started to allow penalties to creep into their defence and on 40 minutes the referee had had enough and gave Lowry the opportunity to have 10 minutes rest. Scarborough kicked the penalty to make it 10 -3.
This seemed to wake Malton up a little and they began to exert pressure on Scarborough. A clearance kick from Scarborough reached the half way line. From the resulting line out a Malt steal by Dunne allowed for some slick handling out to the wing for speedster Weatherill to burst down the line before putting Fothergill in for the second try of the game.
15-6 Half Time
2nd half started with the same too and fro, to describe the game as scrappy so far would be fair. A Malt clearance didn't find touch and poor defence in the middle allowed the scarb hooker to burst through under the posts plus conversion. 15-13. From the resulting kick off there was a long break due to an injury to captain Triffitt, who thankfully managed to continue after some treatment. . Pressure from Scarbs led to to yet another rash of Malton pens from which Scarbs slotted 3 points to take the lead. 15-16
This finally sparked Malton in to action and they marched straight back up the field for Triff to cross the try line and Bully hitting his first kick of the day. 22-16 Malton's tails were up now and they upped the tempo. Spreading the ball wide again led to a deliberate knock on from the Scarbs winger who got a yellow card for his efforts. Once again Malton couldn't sustain the pressure though as yet another pen was conceded. From Scarborough clearing kick we stole the line out and spread the ball wide again for Tenge who looked thoroughly enjoyed to be crossing in the corner and finish under the posts, some very slick hands from debutant Dylan Jones helped the movement. 29-16
As Malton attempted to turn the screw an opportune scarb interception streaked away to score in the corner 29-21 From the kick off malt we're straight back at Scarbs, a clearing up and under landed in the safe hands of 18 year old full back Dylan Jones who fed Foth and in turn Ed Lockwood to race away to score.
36-21.
From the restart there was a true David vs Goliath moment where Scrum half Paul Angus managed to fell Matty Jones after he'd received a hospital pass from his scarb colleagues. A rush of blood led to Angus and the Scarbs hooker both seeing yellow just before the final whistle blew.
36-21 final score.
Definitely not a game for the casual observer but probably a classic local derby. The result puts Malton and Norton top of the table but there is still a very long way to go!
The team travels the short distance to league new comers Selby next week. Kick off is 15:00, it would be great to travel down there with a band of Malton and Norton supporters to cheer the lads on.
Nick Salisbury, Ted Hughes, Liam Vaughan, Will Dunn, Jamie Rounthwaite, Matt Bowman, Tom Lowry YC, Sam Triffit 1 T (c).
Paul Angus YC, James Bullmer 3 C, Ben Tenge 1 T, Tom Foan (vc), Ed Lockwood 1 T, Josh Weatherill 2 T, Ali Fothergill 1 T.
Subs all used. Sean Emms, Tom Barker, Dylan Jones
A big thank you goes out to our Match & Table sponsors for this game. Support like this on matchdays is what makes our club what it is.
Andrew Jackson Solicitors,
ICM(uk),
A & J Stead,
Lund Gates,
& Dick Newsome.
Pre match meals from 1 seat to Tables of 10 or a full room are available upon enquiry.
Please email Bill Browne to book.... details on Contacts page.
