Malton and Norton RUFC

James Knock

A study of the two league games, both won by Malton(17-10, 40-36) and Goole’s losing bonus point tally of 9 demonstrates why the Boothferry bridge outfit should not have been underestimated, as the 11 point total margin of the league games was near as dammit reversed in today’s cup game.
Goole kicked off towards the town on a dry bone hard surface in warm sunshine and the ball was returned with interest by Jones , the bounce completely outfoxing the defending fullback who was caught and jackalled by Jones 20 metres out in front of the sticks. Inexplicably the 3 points on offer were ignored and the ball was kicked to the corner with the projected catch and drive a non-event.
Over the next 6 minutes Goole hammered away at the Malton line with the home side turned over at least 4 times one of them leading to the opening try from the visitors. 
0-7
In the 11th minute a high long ball was launched by a Malton midfielder from halfway which went end over end to the dead ball line as would possibly have been demonstrated and forecast in the prematch warmup, resulting in a scrum on half way with Goole put in. One minute later the Goole backs orchestrated a simple run in for one of their props.  0-14
With Malton penned in their own half and the Goole backs treating a plentiful supply of ball as a warm up for the seven a side season on 17 minutes they returned a poor chip kick with interest.  0-19
Just prior to this score in his frustration coach Crockett had hauled off both starting props and halfbacks, introducing young Hoggard at 9, moving Jones to 10 and placing Deighton on the wing. Boothman not expecting such an early summons rolled onto the pitch together with Coe as the other replacement prop.
Between 22 and 27 minutes with these changes bedding in Malton had a period in the visitor’s half but lack of ideas, precision and penetration led to zero results.
On 32 minutes Malton lost fullback Pegrum to an ankle injury leading to Fothergill moving from an unaccustomed role in the back row to his familiar position at 15 and Marshall taking over at 6.
With 5 minutes to the break Malton’s newly acquainted halfbacks were starting to gel and in the 36th minute they set up a try for Coe.  5-19
Two minutes later Hoggard showing his paces as he jinked his way at speed past several defenders over 30 metres set up prop Boothman who stepped through one tackle to jog over the whitewash.  12-19
The opening 5 minutes of the second half was all Malton at the Goole end with no reward for the intense pressure.
In the 54th minute out of nowhere Goole released a man out wide who ran through virtually unopposed for 7 points.  12-26
Worse was to come as Malton’s regular no15 allowed a high ball to bounce and being of oval shape on hard ground it bounced 3 or 4 times this way and that away from the prospective catcher into the arms off a Goole player following up the kick who waltzed over the line for another 7 points.  12-33
It was always going to be a tall order as Malton attempted to “crawl it back” (quote seen on Facebook), but tries in the 58th and 61st minutes from Boothman and Angus respectively for 12 points were not sufficient , as Goole ran out as worthy winners of this encounter. We wish them well in the next round of this cup that some clubs do not even  bother to enter, and which in the opinion of many should be shown the door and replaced with a return to 14 team leagues thus ensuring an extra 2 home games and smiles on the faces of hard pressed community club treasurers.

In 2 weeks time our highly successful second string will play Hullensians in the grand final of their East Yorkshire merit league having dispatched Pocklington 2nds yesterday.
The venue & time have been confirmed as Percy Road, Pocklington at 3pm, please keep an eye out on the club website also next week’s fixture when an U23 team will host Scarborough at the Gannock with a 3.00 pm kick off.

Malton:  Nick Salisbury,  John Vasconcelos,  Pete Hopkins,  Charlie Reed,  Sean Emms,  Ali Fothergill,  Henry Cornforth,  Sam Triffitt (c),  Paul Angus,  James Bulmer,  Tom Atkinson,  Jacob Stephenson,  Dylan Jones,  Archie Johnson,  Rufus Pegrum.

Bench: (all used)  Ben Boothman,  Dan Coe,  Byron Marshall,  Jack Deighton,  Theo Hoggard.

Scorers:  Coe    1 try
                 Boothman   2 tries
                 Angus   1 try
                 Jones   2 cons