Scarborough 5 – 17 Malton & Norton

3^rd December 2022

James Knock

MALTON DIG DEEP

A perfect surface but a cold, rain laden, breezy afternoon greeted Malton at Silver Royd.
With the skipper restored to the starting line-up and the returning no10 on the bench Malton kicked off towards the scoreboard end with the wind behind them but veering towards the stand side.
The slippery ball combined with cold hands made handling a difficult task and it became obvious early on that the side spilling less ball would prosper as the game progressed.
Scarborough struck first in the clubhouse corner after a move down their backs with the supporting no15 crossing the visitor’s line for 5 points only in the 8th minute.
The following kick off went straight out and minutes later after the scrum Malton lost Triffitt to a hamstring injury resulting in Rounthwaite moving to no8 and Barker slotting in at 7.
With the play moving up and down the middle sector of the pitch and the Scarborough no10 using his boot more and more Malton’s response was to keep it in hand and metre by metre drive their way up the park with Featherstone leading the way in trademark style depositing one would be tackler firmly on his backside.
However one promising advance was spoiled by a kamikaze style unwarranted dive over a ruck to give up hard won position via a penalty.
On 18 minutes Malton’s efforts were rewarded when a quick ruck ball was moved swiftly down the backs and then back inside again, all backs handling at least once in what looked like a well-rehearsed move off the training pitch with the ever improving Barker who had tracked the ball taking the final pass to score near the posts. Seven points and Malton’s supporting faithful purring in the stand having witnessed as good a try as seen so far this season.
Two minutes later the cold claimed another hamstring injury with Fothergill limping off to give the well-rested Bulmer his entry to the fray. He slotted in at fly half with Jones moving to fullback.
On 20 minutes a good follow up by Bell was spoilt by a knock forward as the line beckoned 5 metres away. Another chance went astray minutes later when a long kick down the line was followed up by Stephenson who beat the defence to the in goal area only to suffer from the vagaries of the oval ball as it bounced on its point into touch in goal.
Again the ball’s shape was responsible for an error by the visiting fullback who rather than catch a high ball on the full, allowed it bounce and putting out only one hand to gather it in watched in dismay as it clipped his fingers to give Scarborough position and a feed into the resulting scrum.
In the 38th minute Scarborough no5 was shown yellow in the shadow of his posts to give Angus a simple penalty kick and a half time score of 10-5 to Malton.

Malton opened the half returning the kick off with a splendid deep kick from Bulmer bouncing into touch deep in the host’s half to set up position. Minutes later a 2nd yellow was flashed in the host’s faces giving Malton 4 minutes against 13 men.
However the rewards for constant pressure were not forthcoming and indeed Malton were fortunate after a set scrum 15 metres out when Angus opted to put a grubber kick through for his winger. The ball cannoned off a defender and the resulting loose ball was picked up and it was only a scrambled shirt clutching effort that saved Malton’s blushes as a length of the field probable try was averted.
On 57 minutes Bulmer followed up a fly hack and again the bounce of the ball close to the Scarborough posts bamboozled two defenders but not Malton’s fortuitous no10 who simply had to pick the ball up and flop over for 7 points. Malton were in control now for the next 10 minutes but one or two penalties were given up and combined with final passes going to earth after some good breaks any scoring chances were missed.
The hosts with 12 minutes left on the clock were searching for a score and a losing bonus point as a minimum but scrambled defence kept them out with Read leading the way tackling like a man possessed. This despite 2 yellow cards on the 70th and 73rd minute to Barker and Bowman (no not a department store) respectively.
This is where the Malton pack showed the guts and stamina that is becoming a trademark with props Vaughan and Featherstone to the fore scrummaging as if their lives depended on it at the end of a long 80 minute shift. Try as they might Scarborough could not dislodge the 13 men and suffered the indignity of being shunted backwards in the final minute by the remnants of Malton’s pack, possibly distracted by the crowd in the stand voting with their feet and walking across the end of the pitch in their teams line of vision. The season’s double over the seasider’s sets Malton up for next week’s visit of Selby with the league table splitting across the middle after this 12th game out of 22.

Malton:   Ali Fothergill,  Will Bell,  Ed Lockwood,  Tom Foan,  Jacob Stephenson,  Dylan Jones,  Paul Angus,  Liam Vaughan,  Matt Bowman,  Rob Featherstone,  Will Dunn,  Charlie Read,  Jamie Rounthwaite,  Tom Lowry,  Sam Triffitt (c).

Subs:   Ted Hughes, Tom Barker, James Bulmer,   (all used).

Scorers:    Barker    1 try
                   Angus    1 pen, 2 cons
                   Bulmer   1 try

Further results from this weekend include a welcome victory for the Super 2s despite a nasty eye injury to Nick Embleton.

The Trees had 11 players on Friday evening but by Kick off had a squad of 17, Thanks to all who helped or pulled our colours on again.  Match report from Pat Lane is here.

Sunday we went unbeaten 

The Marvels coming from behind to beat Northallerton Ladies. 

The Colts sitting at the top of thier league & through to the semi’s of the cup.

Under 16s visited and overcame Wetherby.

The 15s hosted Ripon on Pitch 3 and were great form.

The 14s entertained Hornsea over on Pitch 4 drawing the game.

Excellent defence from all the teams is getting mentioned time and time again. 

Bravo, Ladies & Gentlemen Bravo.

Marvels

u17s