Malton get back to winning ways (From Gazette & Herald)

Malton get back to winning ways

North 2 East League - Malton & Norton 36, Redcar 10; After some terrible recent results Malton had some hard work to do in order to convince their large bunch of supporters that they had the commitment and ability to fight back from the depths of despair.

For the first 10 minutes, they were under pressure and penned into their own 22m area by a buoyant Redcar side, which caused some alarm in the Malton ranks.

The pressure was relieved and capitalised on when skipper Chris Creber hoisted the ball high in the air for winger Ian Cooke to follow up and make a superb catch, before making good ground and feeding centre David Webster. He crossed beneath the posts for Cooke to add on the extras.

Straight from the kick-off, Malton added to the tally. The ball was spread wide before being brought back inside for Cooke to feed back row man Craig Foote who stormed over. Cooke again added the extras.

At this stage, with Cooke in superb form, Malton looked like world beaters. A period of sustained forward pressure then ensued and when the ball went to the backs, centre Alan Aitken made a defence-splitting break before handing on to prop forward Liam Vaughan, who crossed for Malton's third try.

It was converted to put his side up by 21 points after only 20 minutes of play.

More followed as Malton stamped their authority on the game. Firstly, a good catch and drive from a lineout rewarded hooker Steve Piercy with a well deserved try.

Then, to keep the front row in unison, prop forward Carl Muscroft got his name on the score sheet when he forced his way over after good work from scrum half Jon Newsome. By half time, Malton held a healthy 31-0 lead.

Redcar, however, were far from finished and showed just why they had taken Alnwick apart the previous week. They came back into the game with a much better second half performance.

Indeed for the first 20 minutes, Malton were under severe pressure and only a resolute defence kept the visitors at bay. Under such an onslaught, any defence can only hold out so long and after 17 minutes, Redcar found a gap and right wing Storey crossed for a deserved score.

Like Malton in the first half, back came the visitors and, without Malton touching the ball, added to the tally when fly half Hemmingway crossed in the corner to start a few palpitations in the Malton support.

Despite a spirited comeback by Redcar, Malton were not down for long and again got back into their stride. Tough pressure put them into good position for a series of lineouts on the Redcar line. Good forward play, controlled by Jon Newsome, re-applied the pressure of the first half, and the just reward went to flanker Andy Mitchell, who rounded off a great back row performance with a try to settle the game.

Malton collected a welcome two points, after showing some of the rugby they had played earlier in the season.

Ian Cooke was the Man of the Match but there were other nominations, notably Craig Foote, David Cooke, Liam Vaughan, Jon Newsome and Andy Mitchell.

Hopefully, the form can be carried forward to next week when Alnwick are the visitors to The Gannock and further progression can be made.

Updated: 15:26 Wednesday, February 02, 2005