Normally local Derbies at Clifton Park are well attended events with plenty of spice. As the game unfolded from Malton's perspective the second half proved to be somewhat lacking in flavour.
MALTON ceded a penalty within 30 seconds of the starting whistle, a situation from which York took full advantage pressing for Malton's line. An early scrum looked ominous with a hefty shove by York and a pickup by their no8 who charged down the wing to be bravely blocked by the youngster Joe Browne who paid for his courageous tackle later in the game with a concussion decision by Malton's Physio.
The first 10 minutes were dominated by York in terms of possession and territory but a kick to touch by James Bulmer was kept in play by York and the speedy Browne following up ripped the ball from York's winger fed Vus Dyantjies who in turn passed to Bulmer whose dancing feet took him to the line for acting skipper Matt Bowman as ever in support to go over for an unconverted try on 11 minutes.
York again took over in terms of territory and possession and a penalty on Malton's line resulted in the inevitable try by York no8 converted by fly half Declan Cusack who has tasted Rugby at the high tables of Munster and Leicester Tigers amongst others.
Living off scraps Malton who visited the home half but rarely took a quick tap penalty on 34 minutes fed the barnstorming Ali Fothergill whose determined break saw him brought down 5 metres short but the supporting Will Bell took the pass to score under the sticks for 7 points. Six minutes later a similar break by Fothergill gave Bell his brace this time not converted.
The half time score of 17-7 was however not a true reflection of the game so far with Malton's terriers in the back row (Jamie Rounthwaite making his seasonal return to the colours out of position) scavenging for the odd scraps of turn over ball which had allowed for the 3 break out tries against the run of play. York had dominated both territory and possession by at least 70-30%. Reading the runes MALTON needed to achieve parity in both the above factors to defend the 10 points for 40 minutes.
The second half opened ominously with a 7 pointer to York on 43 minutes following a penalty and the quick reactions of the no 9 whose quick tap and scamper to the whitewash from close range is one of his trade marks.
With possession and territory a rare commodity for Malton, losing acting skipper Bowman on 55 minutes to a yellow card decision did not help matters and York scored either side of the card for 7 pointers on 50 and 57 minutes to effectively put the game beyond a comeback for Malton.
To the squad's credit they stuck to the task and visited the York half several times in the final quarter of the game but lacked the firepower to go over with final passes not going to hand and fatigue not surprisingly a factor.
York had meanwhile registered their final score on 63 minutes for their no 14 converted to give Cusack 5 out 5 off the kicking tee.
The final act of the game was the administering of yellow cards to Charlie Read for fighting and his combatant from York on 77 minutes.
Re grouping is the order of the day for next week's visit of newcomers to this league Durham City who at this early stage of the season have the 3rd highest points differential of 64 and lie 7th in the table equal on 11 league points with ourselves in 9th position.
MALTON: Ali Fothergill, Joe Browne, Will Bell, Vus Dyantjies, Paul Angus, James Bulmer, Chris Inman, Simon Thompson, Bailey Lamb, Peter Hopkins, Sean Emms, Charlie Read, Tom Lowry, Jamie Rounthwaite, Matt Bowman (c).
Subs: Nick Salisbury, Nathan Pratt, James Machin. (all used).
Scorers: Bowman 1 try
Bell 2 tries
Bulmer. 1 con
