Report by Dave Campbell
Referee: Mr Andy Scott (North Yorkshire Society)
Having conceded an early penalty slotted by ‘YM’ centre Ed Barber, Scarborough took the game to the visitors and strong running from fly-half Tom Harrison, centre Craig Farrell and fullback Rob James soon had the West Yorkshire Men on the back foot. And it was no surprise when wingman Tom Ratcliffe secured a ‘Garry Owen’ from scrum-half Bill Freeman and released Harrison who galloped over in the 9th minute and added the extras for a 7-3 lead.
Scarborough did surge further ahead in the 12th minute when outside centre Paul White intercepted a loose pass on halfway and released Ratcliffe who raced 40 metres to score between the uprights. Harrison converted for 14-3. Coach Dave Beck’s charges exhilarated by their two early tries appeared to nod off long enough for centre Lloyd Bentley to release right wing Alex Shaw who scored in the corner in the 15th minute to reduce the arrears to six points at 14-8. Barber missed the conversion. And the tries just kept coming: having failed to finish a great run himself, the admirable Farrell released James to power up the left touchline and score in the corner in the 18th minute. Harrison goaled for a 21-8 lead.
Huddersfield heads never went down and Barber knocked over a long distance penalty to reduce the arrears to 21-11 when Scarborough were caught offside in the 20th minute. The excitement never abated in the second quarter and great work by prop Nino Cutino released Sleep but a great cover tackle by visiting fullback Nick Clarke saved a certain try. Scarborough then lost the services of Paul White: Ratcliffe moved inside and Andy Baird substituted on the wing.
With half-time approaching Barber continued his kicking heroics for the visitors landing a 40 metre penalty in the 37th minute to reduce the arrears to seven points at 21-14. And ‘YM’ drew level in the 40th minute when Barber touched down and converted himself for 21-21. Scarborough had the last word of the half when Harrison stroked over a penalty for holding on after the tackle for 24-21 at the interval.
With five tries scored in the first half things dried up somewhat after the break but the scoreboard kept ticking over; Harrison stretched the Scarborough lead to 27-21 with a penalty in the 42nd minute before penalties by the deadly accurate Barber in the 55th and 59th minutes levelled the scores at 27-27.
Barber had a rare miss with the boot when he sliced a penalty in the 70th minute but following pressure on the Huddersfield 22 when visiting No8 Mark Whitehead was judged offside wide on the Scarborough left. Harrison’s inch perfect kick from the touchline stretched the lead to 30-27 with five minutes of the game remaining.
Another big hit from Farrell stopped Lloyd in his tracks but referee Mr Scott penalized a Scarborough infringement on half-way. Barber found touch five metres from the home line with the resulting kick and from a catch and drive flanker Neil Walker was driven over in the 79th minute: Barber put daylight between the sides at 34-30 with his conversion.
And as last week that appeared to be that. Once more not so! Huddersfield lock Josh Lumb fumbled the restart and from the resulting scrum, scrum-half Bill Freeman released Farrell to bullock into the visitors 22. With the seconds ticking away Scarborough pressed on the home line under the posts, Paul Taylor eventually burrowing under a pile of defenders to score. Harrison stretched the lead to 37-34 with the kick.
There was time to restart the game but Scarborough controlled it from there to clinch four league points and a bonus point for scoring four tries: enough to move from fifth bottom to Fourth in Yorkshire One. YM with Barber outstanding played their full part in this game and were unfortunate to come away with only a losing bonus point. Surely it can’t be long until this young side moves off the bottom.
Scarborough: James Ratcliffe White Farrell Sleep Harrison Freeman Lowde Williams Cutino Adams Else Purdy Raines Watson Substitutes Ingham Taylor Baird (all used)
Huddersfield YMCA: Clarke Shaw Barber Bentley Morton Wilson Marshall Wrafter Stuart Dyke Stephen Dyke Housley Lumb Walker Crabtree Whitehead
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