Malton and Norton put Vase defeat behind them (From Gazette & Herald)

Malton and Norton put Vase defeat behind them

Yorkshire Two. Ilkley 19 pts Malton and Norton 25 pts

After the disappointment of exiting the Powergen Vase the previous week, Malton and Norton bounced back to maintain third place in the league with this important away win.

From the kick-off, the visitors played some enterprising rugby on a greasy surface. Their early pace caught Ilkley cold as Malton took the lead with an Ian Cooke penalty after five minutes. Within a minute, Ilkley spread the ball wide to speedy right wing Nulty, who scorched over to give his side the lead.

Back came Malton with forwards James McKay and Carl Rushworth leading the way. A dropped pass gave Neil Gilbertson the opportunity to hack through and follow up to win the race for the touchdown. Cooke added the conversion to re-establish Malton's lead.

Ilkley responded again when, from a maul close to the Malton line, the visitors were adjudged to have killed the ball and young flanker Andy Mitchell was harshly sent to the sin bin for ten minutes. Home skipper Cadman converted the penalty to reduce the deficit.

Despite being a man down, Malton increased their lead through Andy Whalley. The ball was won from a ruck and transferred to the inside centre, who had an outstanding game, who burst through to cross over. Again, Cooke converted.

With barely half an hour gone, a high-scoring game was in prospect as Ilkley reduced the gap when a prop forward burst away from a maul near the Malton line to crash over. Cadman then reduced the lead to one point with a well-struck penalty.

Ian Cooke replied for Malton, reaching the Ilkley line without a hand being laid on him after going on one of his mazy runs from 20 metres out. With 22 points in the bag, the Gannock side should have felt safe. But another Cadman penalty brought Ilkley to within three points to trail 22-19 at the interval.

By contrast to the first period, the second half produced few points. In fact, the only score was another penalty from Cooke to increase Malton's lead.

The game was still played at a quick pace and both sides tried to play open rugby but both defences were on top. David Webster and Will Barber both put in try saving tackles for Malton and Ilkley were saved on a couple of occasions by final forward passes.

Although not quite at their best, Malton and Norton showed plenty of character to win on a ground where they have traditionally struggled.

Vice-captain Jon Newsome was at his effervescent best, while the back row of David Cooke, McKay and Mitchell stamped their authority all over the park.

This week's trip to Ripon will be another tough encounter but, with a game in hand on the two sides above them, promotion is still very much in Malton's sights.

Malton and Norton's Junior Vase conquerors Bradford Salem have been drawn away to Midlands Four East (North) side Mellish in the quarter-finals.

Updated: 10:41 Wednesday, January 29, 2003