A DRY bitterly cold day greeted Malton at the picturesque Wagon Lane sports complex, which saw a dominant 57-14 victory over Bradford & Bingley RUFC in the Regional Two north east.

Showing five changes from last week’s starting line up, the visitors kicked off proceedings and soon opened the scoring as Paul Angus stole a loose ball at the second breakdown to send Ali Fothergill over for five points with just two minutes gone.

Five minutes later a darting run from Angus was followed by a rather acrobatic Rob Featherstone try, as he lay on his back before reaching over to double his side’s lead.

On 15 minutes it was skipper Sam Triffitt’s turn to cross the whitewash from a line-out, and with Angus taking over goal-kicking duties, the score advanced to a comfortable 17-0 lead.

The Bees came back into the game and on 25 minutes crossed the Malton line, only to have the try adjudged to have been held up.

Both sides were guilty of giving the referee too many chances to blow his whistle, and the penalty count was entering double figures for both teams.

The next two scores came on 35 and 37 minutes respectively when Angus and Tom Barker finished off two length of the field sweeping moves to take the half-time score to 31-0.

Malton & Norton were caught napping five minutes after the break when the Bees put a penalty kick into the corner.

The subsequent line-out saw a well-drilled catch and drive take them over the line with the hosts claiming the score and the goal kick earning the extras.

The next 20 minutes were scoreless as the Bees upped their efforts and combined with Malton’s loose approach and the frequent sound of the whistle, the rugby from a spectator’s viewpoint was somewhat tedious.

However, with 15 minutes remaining the stand-in veteran midfielder Stuart Collins was set up to score with a shimmy and a remarkable turn of speed from 30 metres out took his side to a score of 38-7.

He then gave way to newcomer Ben Brambles to make his debut. 

Five minutes later, the sleeveless James Bulmer dummied before crossing for yet another of his now familiar close-range tries.

The Bees, still with some life left in them, stuck to the task, with only some excellent tackling by Malton keeping them at bay.

But eventually the pressure told, and the Bees’ Ricky Palacio got his just reward for perseverance, and a well-converted try gave the home support something to cheer about and a score line of 45-15 in the 75th minute.

Malton were not quite finished and a good break by Angus put youngster Ben North into the corner for a well-converted try.

With the final whistle pending, Triffitt intercepted a loose pass on his own 22-metre line, before flipping the ball to Bulmer to cruise over for another five points.

The 57-14 scoreline gave Malton their fourth half-century of the season to date, and with a fourth win in the calendar month, they emulate September’s lightning start to the season.

Malton & Norton are next in action at neighbours Pocklington on Saturday afternoon (3pm), with much anticipation and excitement ahead of the local derby.

Malton: Ali Fothergill, Ben North, Connor Miller, Stu Collins, Jacob Stephenson, James Bulmer, Paul Angus, Archie Armitage, Elliot Briggs, Rob Featherstone, Jamie Rounthwaite, Sean Emms, Tom Barker, Tom Lowry, Sam Triffitt.

Subs: (both used) Charlie Read, Ben Brambles.

Scorers: Fothergill 1 try, Featherstone 1 try, Triffitt 1 try, Angus 1 try and 6 conversions, Barker 1 try, Collins 1 try, Bulmer 2 tries, North 1 try.