A YOUTHFUL Malton & Norton seconds side lost 17-5 at York seconds.

Experienced duo Nick Salisbury and Rob Featherstone were relative veterans in an 18-man squad captained by Scott Kneeshaw.

The squad of 18 was reduced to 17 following an injury in the pre-match warm-up, but Malton were able to maintain pressure on their Clifton Park hosts using this season’s rolling subs ruling.

The stand out feature of the game was Malton’s tackling. Time and time again York attacks were cut down until the opposition made errors.

York scored three tries, two created through pressure on the visitors’ line from forward drives and the third from a bad piece of Malton defending, when they failed to clear their own 22.

Malton’s try was scored by Tom Clarke, finishing off a sustained handling move involving six or seven players, covering 70 metres.

York’s line was threatened on several occasions, but Malton failed to complete, either being turned over or judged to have knocked on when a score looked likely.

Gary Davies stepped up to play at scrum-half, some four years after his last game in that position, while there were also outstanding contributions from team-mates David Cole, Tom Lowry, Joe Tenge and Lewis Welch.