North Ribblesdale 24 v 12 Goole (Yorkshire League Division Two)
North Ribblesdale welcomed an unbeaten Goole side to Grove Park as the two Yorkshire League Division Two teams battled each other and the elements in horrible wet & windy day in Settle.
The visitors, kicked off with a strong breeze in their favour and within the first minute, had been awarded a penalty on the home twenty-two but the kick went wide. From the re-start North Ribblesdale pushed Goole back into their own half with some strong running and excellent support play, which lead to a penalty for offside that Michael Thwaite scored to give the home side a 3-0 lead after just five minutes.
Straight from the Goole kick off the visitors began to move the ball around, taking play back into the North Ribblesdale half with good play of their own. Goole opened space on the left side, but unfortunately a poor pass went to ground, it was collected by the home side and following some good handling Omari Kaup-Samuels swerving outside and ran fifty meters unchallenged to score by the posts, the conversion successful which gave the home side a 10-0 lead after ten minutes.
Goole collected the ball from the restart and pressurised the home side with their usual open attacking style. Eventually winger Binns made a diagonal run into midfield where support was quick and accurate as they surged to the home try line. The ball worked its way to Goole captain Moore, who slid in under the posts before the visitors added the conversion reducing the deficit to just three points.
The home side increased their lead on twenty-three minutes, when a period of sustained pressure to put Goole firmly on the back foot. Eventually it was a strong run through the middle of the visitors defensive line to score under the posts increasing their lead to 17-7.
Goole then had their best period of possession bringing their big back row into the game and at times showed what a good attacking side they are with several good moves. the biggest attacking potential was in the centre and these were nullified by the tremendous tackling of Moore and Speres.
The last five minutes saw the visitors defending on their own line with the clock in injury time, Shand received the ball to break to half way and pass to the supporting players. Full back Holt raced into the Ribblesdale five metre area, however they were stopped short when a pass may have been the better option, to leave the half-time score 17-7.
At the start of the second-half Goole were camped in their own twenty-two, but after a while managed to push the home side back to half way. Unfortunately, the defending in the middle of the park was again breached by the strong running home side for another score under the posts. Conversion added and the score increased to 24-7.
At this point Goole to introduced Tom Green and Connor Walker into the mix. This had an immediate effect on the Goole team. Strong running and solid commitment at the break down by both players which began to get Goole back into the game. The next twenty mins saw the visitors pressing hard and definitely back in the game.
So it was no surprise on the sixty-five minutes to see them force the home side back into their own twenty-two and Goole to surge to their line. Unfortunately, yet again, with the try line beckoning, Goole dropped the ball when it seemed easier to score. Undeterred the visitors continued to press and on seventy-two minutes got their reward for a long period of possession, again it was Green and Walker that were heavily involved.
From the re-start by North Ribblesdale on the twenty-two line, Walker caught the ball on half way to feed Taylor, who drove through the home defence and passed to Will Townend who then ran across field from left to right and Sam Smith obliged with the touch down.
As the game went on the visitors were getting stronger and stronger and it looked as though they could make a come back and complete yet another last-ditch victory, but the North Ribblesdale defence stood strong and with the last play of the game, the home side could have added to the score, with a massive overlap, but they managed to drop the ball with the line begging leaving the final score 24-12.
North Ribblesdale will be full of confidence ahead of next weeks trip to Horsforth when they will face Yarnbury, who currently sit tenth in Yorkshire League Division Two having won just one of their first six games.
Match Details
North Ribblesdale – Harding, Howarth, Moore, Speres, Kaup-Samuel, M.Thwaite, Cook, M.Close, I.Close, J.Thwaite, A.Thwaite, Booth, Tunney, Padley, Fromm (Subs) Lynn, Carr, Morphet
Goole – Holt, Beecher, Shand, Dougherty, Binns, Moore, Devenish, Kinghorn, Corry, Lamb, Emslie, Morris, Townend, Chantry, Talyor (Subs) Green, Walker, Smith
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