Malton & Norton break their duck

Conditions for rugby could not have been better at Newby and the large crowd were kept fully entertained throughout with the result in the balance until the final whistle.

Malton’s victory – their first of the Yorkshire One season – lifted them off the bottom, which is now occupied by Scarborough.

After a couple of probing runs by centre and man of the match Dave Gardner, Malton’s pack took over and set four phases of rucks and mauls to suck the opposition in before scrum half Ed Pang chipped over the defence to the corner. As two Scarborough defenders expected the ball to roll dead, livewire wing Phil Pateman followed up to touch down.Ian Cooke converted with a fine kick.

The Scarborough pack were a mighty, but ageing, unit in the set pieces but Malton’s tactics of constantly changing the point of attack were slowly drawing the stamina from the home pack and a succession of penalties ensued. However, Malton were unable to profit and Scarborough turned the tables to set up camp in the Malton 22-metre area for long periods.

In recent weeks Malton’s defence has become almost watertight and so it proved again despite some dangerous breaks from midfield by the home side. The Malton back row of Andy Mitchell, Guy Dolman and Sam Triffitt were outstanding in stemming the tide with Pateman and Cooke.

Eventually Malton clawed their way back to the other end and their pack drove over the line but the score was ruled out when the referee adjudged that the ball had not been grounded. From the resulting scrum Pang broke to the blind side to find a gaping hole and crossed without a hand being laid on him to give Malton a 12-0 lead.

The second half began with Scarborough pressing hard and, after missing a penalty attempt in the opening minute, had a try disallowed when the referee again decided that the ball had not been grounded.

Malton’s line finally cracked when a home centre burst through two tackles to cross between the posts. Scarborough skipper Josh Bullen converted to leave the game wide open.

Now it was Malton’s turn to apply the screw and they were denied a good score following some breathtaking handling by Triffitt, James Dempsey and Pateman. The referee initially signalled a try but was forced to alter his decision when the home touch judge belatedly raised his flag. Minutes later a similar situation arose and the score was again ruled out.

Scarborough fought back strongly but the Malton defence, although stretched, managed to hold out for the a vital win.

Having reverted to a much simpler plan, Duncan Foster and Richard Webster dominated the line outs, the front row was solid and the back row covered every inch of the park. Behind the pack Gardner was the pick with his bullocking runs and teenager James Dempsey, at full-back, took the eye and was unlucky not to get his name on the scoresheet.

Malton have a free week on Saturday as they take a rest before travelling to Keighley for their next game.

Malton & Norton: J Dempsey, P Pateman (R .Armitage 65mins), I Cooke, D .Gardner, E Richardson. W McCrone, E Pang, P Dobson, N Salisbury (A Turnbull 60mins), E Gwilliam, D Foster, R Webster, A Mitchell, G Dolman (J Machin 60mins), S Triffitt.