MALTON SECOND STRING CRUISE TO VICTORY
James Knock
On a day when many club 1st teams were taking yet another rest Malton dispatched two sides the short distance to old friends and neighbours at Pocklington. Under the stewardship of John Lumley and Chris Hopkin the club second string laid out their credentials for a handful of hardcore Malton supporters including the club chairman to witness. Dare I say that this is an example of what local rugby is all about in an era of multiple distractions and late cancellations.
Malton kicked off with local referee John Hill officiating and Pocklington applied early pressure in the opening 10 minutes, but solid tackling kept the door shut. Malton’s tight five were showing dominance at this early stage of proceedings, a factor that was prevalent for 80 minutes.
In the 10th minute Malton’s fullback broke the stalemate with a break up the dugout side and chipped the ball through for Angus to follow up and open the scoring. 7-0
Eight minutes later one of the back row Turnbull’s took the ball to the line and Pocklington coughed up a penalty with Malton opting to scrummage, but after two phases and a turnover the hosts cleared their line. Malton lost prop Coe to a back strain and the redoubtable Featherstone was wheeled on to keep the forward momentum going.
In the 22nd minute another penalty scrum was opted for and a pickup and simple pass resulted in a straightforward run in for Tindall. 12-0
From the restart Malton were immediately on the move but another missed touch from a penalty award gave Pocklington the chance to run out of defence. However a mixup in midfield resulted in yet another penalty and Malton from 23 metres out pragmatically took the 3 points. 15-0
With halftime time beckoning Pocklington opened their account as their fly half was fed quick ball from the tail of a line out and catching the defence off guard he ran an all too easy line to the whitewash, 15-7, but with Malton’s forward dominance the second half couldn’t come too soon.
The second half opened with the visitors putting a penalty kick bang in the corner and Pocklington with a wild tap back over their line put themselves under pressure as veteran prop Gwilliam and his crew geared themselves up for the resulting scrum, from which Cornforth powered over. 22-7
Pocklington still had ideas and with Malton not being rewarded at scrum time as they constantly shoved the home pack backwards off their own feed, it was from scrambled possession that the home side arrived at the Malton line only to be denied with a forward pass.
In the 65th minute after 10 minutes on defensive duties Pegrum and Collier combined to break down the right side of the pitch but were tackled and turned over 20 metres out. Minutes later with tempers fraying Starbuck who had put in a solid shift, much to his obvious annoyance was withdrawn to cool down with a mug of cold coffee.
In the 72nd minute hooker Alngohuro burst through and a pin point pass put Angus in for his brace. 27-7
With the game effectively over as a contest Angus in the 75th minute repaid the above compliment as he fed Alngohuro whose remarkable turn of speed saw him outpace several defenders over 35 metres to score under the uprights. 34-7
To Pocklington’s credit they kept their heads up to the final whistle and still mounted an attack or two but Malton’s tackling denied them any consolation score.
A good all round display by a united and close squad and it is no surprise to read their playing record to date. P25 W21 Dr1 L3.
Mention shout be made of an outstanding display, especially his aggressive tackling, from no6 Josh Raines who deservedly took man of the match, and it was a shame that the 1st team coaches could not be present to look over the performances of one or two members of this, as their playing record shows, excellent squad.
MALTON: Dan Coe, Harry Alngohuro, Edd Gwilliam, Sean Emms, Hefin Owen, Josh Raines, George Turnbull, Tommy Turnbull, Paul Angus, Matt Clarke, Connor Biggins, Jake Starbuck, Charlie Tindall, Henry Wilson, Matt Jefferson.
Bench: (all used) Rufus Pegrum, Rob Featherstone, Henry Cornforth, Bill Collier.
Scorers: Angus 2 tries
Tindall 1 try
Cornforth 1 try
Alngohuro 1 try
Clarke 3 cons, 1 pen
