MALTON & Norton made the trip to South Yorkshire to face Dronfield with hopes of rounding off the Regional Two North East season in style.

However, they failed to recover from two quick-fire tries inside the game’s opening 10 minutes, instead falling to a 32-24 defeat.

A quick start was needed to battle the uphill pitch at Dronfield, something that the hosts used to their advantage from the outset.

Malton found themselves down to 14 men early on following a high shot from Tom Foan, who caught a falling man, unfortunately not to the referee’s liking.

That opened up the the game, and a scrappy piece of play found the ball on the wing. The quick-thinking Jacob Stephenson kicked the ball high up the field for Ali Fothergill to take on and charge for the line, only to be hacked down illegally just before the whitewash.

The referee blew for foul play and headed under the sticks to award a penalty try.

Shortly afterwards, a wild swing in a ruck by one of the home side sparked a midfield shoving match, which saw Malton docked another player and the culprit escaping with a perhaps kind yellow himself.

But Malton rallied, and used the adversity of two men down to tighten up for the remainder of the first half, only conceding a penalty after applying very good pressure.

The start to the second half was crucial for the visitors, who needed to start differently to the first 40 minutes. However, they failed to do so, leaving the door open for Dronfield to capitalise with two quick tries to extend their lead.

It was an uphill battle from thereon, but after more stern words from their skipper and coach, they began to apply sustained pressure with the downhill advantage.

After a trademark break from Edward Lockwood sliced opened the defence to bring Malton within touching distance of the try line, the momentum seemed to shift. A scrum just out from Dronfield’s line led to several phases of attack, with Rob Featherstone making a trademark burrow over the line for another score.

That try re-energised the visitors, who reduced the deficit further after capitalising on a scrum on the five-metre line, Matt Bowman driving over the ruck to cross the whitewash. The ever-constant James Bulmer slotted over the conversion to keep the score ticking.

However, despite their spirited fightback, it proved to be too little, too late for the men from Ryedale as they left empty-handed.

Malton will hope to bounce back at Rochdale in the Regional Two North Plate next weekend.