Malton & Norton not yet safe after home defeat (From Gazette & Herald)

Malton & Norton not yet safe after home defeat

4:05pm Wednesday 13th March 2013 in Sport

MALTON & Norton’s 38-29 home defeat by Keighley leaves them still searching for the win needed to guarantee North One East survival.

The Ryedale side are 19 points clear of the bottom three with four games remaining, against Wheatley Hills, Sheffield, Old Crossleyans and Morpeth.

Malton started brightly at the Gannock against relegation-threatened Keighley and scored after two minutes.

Good interplay and off-loading from the pack put them on the front foot and centre Ian Cooke carved through for the opening try. Ali Heard converted.

From the kick off, a lack of concentration led to a handling error that gifted Keighley a scrum in the Malton 22-metre area.

A pick-up and drive took the visitors to the line, where prop Paul Sinfield was credited with the touchdown which was converted by fly-half Alex Brown.

On 11 minutes, Malton worked a set move from a scrum to send centre Ryan Lonsdale over for the first of his hat-trick. Heard again converted.

Keighley refused to wilt and, when Malton were caught offside in centre-field, the penalty was neatly placed into touch close to the home line.

The initial drive was stopped but when the Keighley backs got the ball some poor defence allowed right-wing Adam Sutcliffe to go over in the corner.

Keighley capitalised in the 25th minute when Malton were temporarily reduced to 14 men. Opting for a scrum 10 metres out, they shunted the home pack back for number eight Lee Sugden to touch down and Brown to convert.

In the final minute of the half, Malton again succumbed and Sugden touched down to give the visitors a half-time lead of 24-14.

At the start of the second period, Malton full-back Tom Newitt made a break and the ball was recycled to Lonsdale, who burst through the defence to score from 40 metres.

The same player broke free again after a scrum in centre-field to record his hat-trick and level the scores.

The hosts were put under pressure and two poor attempts to clear their lines were returned with interest, leading to a third try for Sugden.

Midway through the half, Malton again sprang to life and set up a drive for substitute flanker Ali Coe to score. However, five minutes from time, Keighley got the all-important last score and again it was a lack of concentration which contributed.

With the ball securely won from a set scrum, Malton should have cleared. Instead they knocked on and Keighley’s pack set up a rolling maul for prop Craig Spencer to cross.

Brown converted via the crossbar and denied Malton a second bonus point.

Malton now have a weekend off before travelling to Doncaster-based Wheatley Hills.

Malton: T Newitt, K Leiataua, R Lonsdale, I Cooke, A Heard, C Ramsay, T Boyle, P Dobson, N Salisbury, A Turnbull, S Emms (D Foster), J Rounthwaite, G Ramsay (A Coe), G Harrison (H Barnes), S Triffitt.

• MALTON & NORTON Under-13s could not repeat their cup heroics over Roundhegians as the visitors left with a 40-7 victory.

The Ryedale club were missing some players and Tom Pycock stepped in from the U14s to help out.

His efforts were in vain, however, as Roundhegians’ big forwards were unstoppable.

Malton, through Charlie Tannahill, Will Worswick and Aidan McCourt, dug in and were finally rewarded with a try from Jordan Smith following an offload by Keiran Sykes. Angus McMillan tagged on the conversion.