MALTON & Norton secured a hat-trick of wins to stay second in Yorkshire One as they beat Pontefract 32-26 at The Gannock.

Another win and a try bonus point may be a good reward for the Ryedale side, but some of the shine was taken off the win after rally in the last five minutes saw Pontefract rescue an unlikely two bonus points.

Club spokesman Bill Laidler said: "We stay in second position in the league and can move forward from this point.

"There are still many aspects of play in which we can improve. This is a dedicated bunch of men and they will learn from games such as this and right the wrongs and improve on the already good."

The home side took the lead after only two minutes when they attacked Pontefract through the pack.

Some excellent ball retention and a series of drives took them deep into the visitors' territory. As the pack rumbled forward, second row Jamie Rounthwaite for the touch down.

The Malton pack were wreaking havoc with the Pontefract eight in both the scrum and lineout. The onslaught continued and, when Pontefract were penalised for a high tackle, Zwelakhe Sodladla added to the tally.

The good work being done in the pack and the backs in taking the ball forward was paying great dividends for Malton. After a good passage of play, another rolling maul was set up for prop Rob Featherstone to rumble over for a second try.

Two Malton players - prop Simon Thompson and fly-half Nick Daley - had to leave the action because of broken noses in the face of some dubious Pontefract tactics.

However, Malt were undeterred and provided the perfect answer from tap penalty in centre field by number eight Mark Bradshaw and centre Vusumzi Dyantjies made good ground before setting up another Rounthwaite try from the maul.

With the score at 18-0, the half entered stoppage time. From the last play of the half, a lineout on the Malton line led to a converted try for the visitors.

Malton began the second half in the ascendancy again and a moment of ill-discipline in the Pontefract ranks saw a yellow card shown.

Three minutes later, having been awarded a free-kick 30 metres out, Malton took full advantage.

As the referee marched the visitors back ten metres for dissent, Sodladla had the presence of mind to quickly tap to himself and slice through the defence to score under the posts and then add the extras.

Pontefract should have been buried by this point but 22 minutes into the half they gave themselves new hope. From a lineout, the ball was moved out to the backs and a try in the corner made it 25-12.

With half an hour gone, a second Pontefract player was shown a yellow card for a high tackle.

Pontefract appeared to have cleared their lines well from the Malton kick but quick thinking from Ben Woodhouse got the ball into the hands of Sodladla, who sent Sizwe Zondo stepping and dancing through the defence to touch down under the posts.

Sodladla added the extras and the game should have been safe at 32-12 with only eight minutes left on the clock.

Indeed, Malton should have gone further into the lead when they spurned the chance of three points and opted for a scrum instead. The visitors cleared and chased to score a long-range try to bring the score to 32-19.

A Malton player was then shown a yellow card for a needless high tackle and, from the penalty, Pontefract kicked to the corner. Again they secured their own ball and took advantage of the extra man to cross close to the posts.

Malton travel to Scarborough on Saturday.

Malton: Z Sodladla, B Woodhouse, J Heggie, V Dyantjies, S Zondo, N Daley, P Angus, N Salisbury, J Thornton, R Featherstone, S Emms, J Rounthwaite, A Coe, S Triffitt, M Bradshaw. Subs (all used): C Birkett, T Lowry, S Thompson.