Malton make hard work of win

THE rugby matched the dark dreary weather as Malton made hard work of keeping their unbeaten home record intact. The home side looked to have the edge in the three-quarters, but the forward exchanges were just about even with Malton appearing to be uncharacteristically lacking in venom and urgency. Midway through the first half, Bradford opened the scoring when fly-half Joe Simpson left the Malton defence in tatters to scamper over from 22 yards out and then follow up with the conversion.

Malton were stung into action and showed glimpses of what they are capable of with good driving runs from centres Richard John and Matt Richmond. The spirits of the Malton faithful were raised when a series of drives took them to within striking distance of the Salem line. A good break from fly half David Webster was carried on by John who crashed over to close the gap. Ian Cooke converted to level the match.

From that point, Malton should have taken control but instead lapsed into another lacklustre period. They paid the penalty when Simpson again opened up the defence to get his second try, which he once more converted, to give his side the interval lead.

Coach Pat Stephenson's half time instructions to his charges were to lift their game by some considerable margin. The signs of recovery were there, but a further 20 minutes elapsed before Malton drew level through a well-worked try from Richmond, converted by Cooke.

This was quickly followed by a Cooke penalty to take the lead. At this point, the homesters had a purple patch and quickly increased the lead when substitute prop Steve Riddolls forced his way over for Cooke to again convert. Another Cooke penalty increased the margin further before a series of forward drives led to the ball being passed wide where forward Phil Ryan was lurking in the centres and forcefully crossed for his side's fourth try, which Cooke converted.

With Salem now on the ropes, Malton should have taken full advantage and the general feeling was that one further score would lead to an avalanche. However, things then reverted to the scrappy affair of earlier in the afternoon. Salem, undaunted, came back strongly and refused to submit.

A number of penalties were conceded close to the Malton line and Salem mounted a concerted effort to snatch something from the game. From one such penalty, for which Riddolls was sin-binned for persistent offending, Salem prop Simon Davis crashed over and Simpson converted. Fortunately, time ran out and Malton bagged the points to keep their promotion hopes well on track.

Malton's scheduled opponents on Saturday, York RI, are involved in the RFU Junior Cup and Ripon have kindly stepped into the breach to play at The Gannock. Malton make two changes in the threequarters, where Ian Mansell and Neil Gilbertson are unavailable and Tim Chapman and Liam Cowton return. In the pack, Tom Eddy, Phil Ryan and Richard Webster will rest niggling injuries and Andy Barker, Tim Casey and Andy Mitchell will start after sitting on the subs' bench last week.

Bradford Salem 2nds 3,

Malton and Norton 2nds 19

THE scoreline shows Malton to be comfortable winners but it must be said that the game hung in the balance for the whole of the first half. This was due purely to a poor start by Malton. The class of the team eventually came to the fore with a much more methodic performance in the second half.

After the emphatic win of the week before, it seemed as though the seconds had forgotten that success is only achieved through hard work and dedication. Even though there were seven changes to the starting line-up, it was the retained players who failed to perform. On turning round at three-all, Malton were rightly read the riot act by Steve Fothergill and they upped their standards in the second half.

The forwards began to effectively ruck to give Adey Hall clean ball to unleash the next wave. On the narrow pitch, space for the wingers was restricted but Liam Cowton surged forward and, from the breakdown, Rob Hicks received the ball to charge over from five yards. Rob Tate converted from the touchline and Malton felt as though there were more to come. Newcomer Rob Clabby put in a strong performance on the wing with several good runs and on a wider pitch would have probably bagged a brace of tries. As Bradford continued to be penalised, Rob Tate showed no mercy with the boot and slotted over four penalties to gradually pull Malton clear.

The frustration of watching the game slip away from them became too much for

Bradford and they resorted to several episodes of unsporting behaviour, with

the referee feeling that two of them deserved to be punished with a spell in

the sin bin. For the game at York RI this week there will be no room for some of the poorer rugby seen at Bradford. The return of Jon Dring is sure to give the team the boost it needs.

Updated: 09:38 Thursday, November 22, 2001