THE winning run continued for Malton & Norton RUFC but they will need to show more composure if they are to maintain their excellent form – not least in the forthcoming North Yorkshire derby against York.

The Gannock-based Yorkshire One leaders took a bonus point and secured their 13th consecutive league win with a 30-20 victory at Bridlington, but it was an off-day for the Ryedale club.

The gale-force wind did little to help matters but rustiness, and an unforgivable number of errors from both sides, meant it was a below-par performance from Malton.

Facing the wind in the first half, Malton were in benevolent mood from the start, conceding penalties at the first three breakdowns. From the third, Brid took the lead with a three-pointer. They were soon back under the cosh as the home side regained possession and progressed into the Malton 22-metre area. After putting in the hard work in getting the ball back, an unnecessary pass was intercepted by the home side and the try under the posts was converted to give Brid a 10-0 lead with just 10 minutes gone.

Malton heeded the alarm bells and, regaining the ball from the kick off, fly-half Teei Piawi made a break into the heart of the Brid defence before handing on to full-back Tom Newitt.

His excellent run created the space to put brother Henry in at the corner for Malton’s first try.

Five minutes later, after turning down a penalty and opting for a scrum, the forwards worked to set up a strong drive to the line for prop Adam Turnbull to get the touchdown to level the scores.

Bridlington were still a handful and threatened to break through on a couple of occasions and only some stout defence kept them at arms length. But, on the half hour, another good forward drive from Malton caused Brid to stray offside and Piawi added the three points to give the visitors a 13-10 lead at the break.

Malton began the second period in the same manner as the first – giving away far too much possession in contact.

However, on the quarter hour mark, Mark Bradshaw picked up at number eight at a scrum and fed scrum-half Tom Collard, who darted through a gap to score. With the wind behind him Piawi had no trouble with the conversion.

But Brid were still competitive and five minutes later reduced the arrears. A series of forward assaults on the Malton line were stemmed but something was bound to break. With defenders running out, Brid, with the seventh drive, got over the line for an unconverted try. Malton had to pull out the stops again and it was the boot of Piawi that brought the reward. Bridlington were penalised on half-way and with a massive kick he sent the ball cleanly between the posts to give Malt an eight point lead. Malt were still giving possession away and were punished with five minutes left when the ball squeezed out of a scrum and Brid were first to react, quickly getting the ball to the right-winger, who scorched in from 50 metres. This score rejuvenated Brid and they again raised their game, despite having a number of players suffering from cramp.

This time the Malton line held and a massive clearance from Collard from his own 22-metre area sailed into touch five metres from the home line. The home full-back attempted a quick throw but the ball sailed over the intended recipients head.

Collard and Henry Newitt had followed up well and Collard gratefully accepted the kind bounce of the ball to romp over beneath the posts.

York are next up at The Gannock in what is sure to be a fiercely contested derby.

Malton: T Newitt, H Newitt, R Lonsdale, B Woodhouse (T Piawi 55mins), J Saunders, T Piawi (T Collard 55mins), T Collard (D Cattle 55mins), P Dobson (T Sanders 55mins), C Muscroft, A Turnbull, D Foster, R Webster, A Mitchell, S Triffitt (G Harrison 55mins),