Malton & Norton ranks depleted for trip to Morley (From Gazette & Herald)

Malton & Norton ranks depleted for trip to Morley

11:14am Friday 1st February 2013 in Sport

SIX key men will be missing when Malton & Norton RUFC travel to Morley in North One East tomorrow.

Captain Ian Cooke, Duncan Foster and Richard Webster are all attending a wedding, while Tom and Henry Newitt are unavailable, and Alex Whittaker will not play again this season as he prepares for a tour of duty in Afghanistan.

Ali Heard will replace Cooke at full-back, while Chuck Ramsay and Harry Shepherd are pencilled in to feature on the wings, with Chris Creber at fly-half.

Replacing Foster and Webster in the second row are veteran Tim Casey and Jamie Rounthwaite.

Club spokesman Bill Laidler said: “It will be good to get back to it after a fortnight or three weeks off but, as this was originally a free date, we will be depleted.

“That’s the way it goes. If we had played last week, we would have been at full strength, but then the snow ruined that.”

Centre Ryan Lonsdale is available to face third-placed Morley despite his sending off against leaders Beverley a fortnight ago.

A disciplinary hearing has been set for February 18 but officials are hoping no further action will be taken after he was suspended by the club for two weeks.

Meanwhile, Pocklington make their second attempt at travelling to sixth-placed Cleckheaton for a rearranged North One East game. When the two sides met at Percy Road at the end of September, a thrilling encounter saw Pocklington come from 14 points down in the last quarter to snatch a 24-23 victory.

The original return fixture was frozen off a fortnight ago and tomorrow will be Pocklington’s first visit to Cleckheaton since 2001. The East Yorkshire club have selected a combined 34-man squad for the Cleckheaton clash and the Panthers’ home game with Driffield.