MALTON & Norton left themselves with too much to do in the second half as they were defeated 45-24 at Old Brodleians in the Regional 2 North East.

They chose to play the first half up the Halifax hillside with the idea that coming down the slope in the second half would pay dividends. However, trailing 33-0 at half time, it ultimately proved to be a mountain too high to climb.

Brods came out of the traps well, and only 90 seconds had elapsed before they added the first five points to the board.

Malton were ruled offside as they looked for a swift response, but instead found themselves further behind with 10 minutes on the clock.

Winning a lineout 30 metres from the whitewash, a called set move saw the home number 12 cut a line and nobody laid a hand on him as he cruised across to score. 

Brods continued to pile on the pressure, with Malton starved of possession and on constant defensive duties.

And they had their third try on the quarter-hour, as with an isolated Will Bell an easy target, they were soon back at the business end of the pitch to take the score to 19-0.

Malton continued to make things easy for Brods, who secured another try and a bonus point with a quick running move out of their own half.

They were across the whitewash again in the 25th minute, Malton being shoved off their own scrum feed before again allowing their hosts to waltz over the line untouched.

Malton though, to their credit, stemmed the tide for the next 15 minutes to leave themselves faint hope of a second-half comeback.

Aided by a triple half-time substitution, they wasted no time in adding their first points to the board, veteran Liam Vaughan paving the way for James Bulmer to dummy his way across the line.

The West Yorkshire outfit though didn’t take long to hit back, profiting from the kind bounce of a grubber kick to score another seven points.

Malton didn’t help themselves when a penalty failed to find touch, but two minutes later had their second try when Bulmer fed Jacob Stephenson, who released Tom Lowry to touch down.

Brods though made sure of victory with 10 minutes remaining, throwing a long cut-out pass to complete their scoring out wide.

Malton, however, were determined to take something back to Ryedale for their efforts, and in the 73rd minute Archie Johnson raced into the corner before skipper Sam Triffitt deservedly claimed the final try and a bonus point.

A tough day at the office for Malton, who will return to action at Moortown on November 9 (2:15pm).