Malton & Norton’s rise goes on (From Gazette & Herald)

Malton & Norton’s rise goes on

3:18pm Wednesday 31st October 2012 in Sport

A HAT-TRICK of wins have hoisted Malton & Norton out of the North One East danger zone.

The Ryedale side were struggling near the foot of the table after losing five of their opening six games, but Saturday’s 40-32 home win over Northern moved them up to eighth.

Malt spokesman Bill Laidler hailed an entertaining, points-laden game, declaring: “What a cracker.

“This game had everything, ensuring that the large crowd had full value for the entrance fee.

“Skill, strength and character were abundant on both sides as the score fluctuated first one way and then the other.

“That is three wins in three games and Malton have taken big strides up the league table and now have daylight between themselves and those below them.

“Next Saturday’s visit to Keighley is eagerly awaited.”

Malton opened the scoring with an excellent Ali Heard penalty after two minutes when Northern were penalised for obstruction almost on halfway.

Northern responded immediately when Malton transgressed. A kick to the corner produced the first try when they caught and drove before setting up a maul to produce the score.

A successful conversion meant Malt trailed 7-3, but they were next to break the defence when they took clean ball at a lineout and moved it infield to set up a ruck.

Scrum-half and man of the match Dan Cattle spotted a gap and darted over between the posts to regain the lead, Heard’s conversion extending that advantage.

With 20 minutes gone, Northern nudged ahead again after Malton allowed a harmless looking kick ahead to bounce and be seized by the Northern right wing, who touched down in the corner.

For the next ten minutes Northern applied the pressure and Malt prop Adam Turnbull was sin-binned, closely followed by hooker Alex Whittaker.

Northern took clean ball at a lineout and had little trouble in getting the touch down to extend the lead to 17-10.

That was when the character in the Malton side came to the fore. Firstly Heard added a penalty when Northern held onto the ball too long after a tackle.

From the kick off they again struck. Henry Barnes fielded the kick off and off-loaded swiftly to Sam Triiffitt.

His break was carried on by wing Tom Newitt and after a ruck he regained possession to sprint over and Heard’s conversion put the hosts 20-17 up.

However, Northern led 22-20 at the break, capitalising on their numerical advantage to get a push over try. After the interval, a clever charge down of a Northern clearance kick was seized upon by Triffitt and he handed on to Heard to cross in the corner.

Then a penalty at a ruck was kicked by Northern and the scores were level at 25-25.

Malton again came to life and from a scrum 40 metres out Cattle broke blind and, using Newitt as a foil outside him, raced home for his second try.

Second row Sean Emms was next to cross, charging down a kick and clinging onto the ball before galloping to the line.

Malt held a 10-point lead with 10 minutes remaining but they were reduced to 14 men when Newitt left the fray with a knee injury after all of the substitutes had been used.

The hosts had to dig deep and, when they won a scrum 20 metres out, Triffitt picked up and broke blind to force his way over.

Northern regained possession from the restart and bagged their fifth try of the game, with the conversion rounding off the scoring.

Malton: Cooke, T Newitt, Lonsdale (Woodhouse), Millward, Heard, Ramsay, Cattle, Dobson, Turnbull, Emms, Webster, Coe (Nutt), Barnes (Casey), Triffitt.