Yorkshire Three

Malton and Norton 68pts

Halifax Vandals 10pts

Malton and Norton showed no mercy in their quest for promotion as they moved into second place with a comprehensive beating of relegation-threatened Vandals.

In what was their fifth consecutive win, they scored 12 tries to keep the crowd entertained and gave their points difference another boost - which could prove crucial at the end of the season.

Last season, the club missed out on promotion as rivals Skipton finished with a superior points difference.

But thanks to some big scores - and a tight defence - Malton have the advantage on most teams at the top this time round.

Within 20 minutes, Malton had established a 24-point lead through tries from Neil Gilbertson, Carl Rushworth, James McKay and Ian Cooke, two of which were converted by Cooke.

Playing into a gale in the first half, Malton elected to keep the ball in hand. Halifax had no answer to the decisive running and slick handling of a Malton side on top of their game.

Fly-half Chris Creber was at the centre of most things and got his own reward with a brilliant individual try, carving through the defence like a knife through butter.

A further three first-half tries came from Gilbertson and number eight forward James McKay, who was again magnificent alongside Phil Ryan and Andy Mitchell. Cooke added a conversion to give Malton and Norton a 41-3 interval lead. Vandals' points came from a lone penalty by full-back Woodward.

With the wind at their backs in the second half, Malton continued in the same vein. But for some inexplicable reason, the whistle took over. What had been a fluent game, became a stop-start affair.

Malton still dominated with further tries from Matt Richmond (2), Phil Ryan (2) and Gilbertson, who completed his hat-trick. Cooke added a further two conversions.

But the second half was marred by a series of unnecessary yellow and red cards. In the only unpleasant incident of the afternoon, Creber and his marker became involved in a minor scuffle.

The Vandals scrum-half tried to get involved but was restrained by Malton's Jon Newsome. To the astonishment of the large crowd, Creber and his marker were shown yellow cards, and Newsome and his opposite number, red cards.

With the game in some disarray, the visitors reduced the arrears as second row forward Dean McLauclan crossed for a try, which Woodward converted.

With some key battles ahead, it is hoped the disciplinary panel are lenient on Newsome.

Updated: 10:31 Thursday, February 14, 2002