York Lokomotive 26

THIS match was dubbed the Battle of the Scaffolders as scaffolding firms sponsored each side. Bridlington by Advanced and York by Acorn.

Brid started well with Paul Kirby putting Danny Collinson over for a try in the first minute. Nicky Mercer added the conversion 6-0

After the re-start Kirby kicked on the fifth tackle, which found touch on the 20 metre line. From the scrum, Ollie Smith put in a huge tackle dislodging the ball and giving the Bulls great field position. Unfortunately the attack came to nothing and York escaped up field. They kept the ball for the next five minutes but couldn’t convert pressure to points. The Bulls regained the ball and after a few plays, Luke Thompson made a break for the line. He drew the last defender and released the try scoring pass but the referee rightly judged it forward. The Lokos then came on the attack and after sustained pressure on 15 minutes, Tom Dunmore broke the defence and scored. Gary Watkinson added the conversion to level the score at 6-6

Kirby caught York napping on the re-start on bounced the ball into touch on the 20 metre line. From the resulting scrum, Mercer received the ball and made for the line but strong York defence held him up just short. York were penalised for stealing the ball and from the quick tap they headed for the posts. Indiscipline by the Lokos led to two more penalties. Brid refused the easy points and were rewarded when Smith dived over in the corner on 19 minutes. Mercer narrowly missed the extras, which put the score at 10-6

York restarted with a towering kick, which the chasing forwards, forced a mistake by Brid and the ball was spilled. York then pressed forward sensing a weak link in the Brid defence but a loose pass found Martin Robinson’s boot and he cleared downfield. He and Mercer chased the ball near to the York try line but were penalised for use of the elbow on the Loko defender. At this point coach Chris Waterman decided to give his props a well-earned rest and replaced Scott Eccles and Dale Allison with Ben Lawry and Quinten Deeth. This seemed inspired as on 26 minutes Deeth broke free and raced away. A quick play from the tackle saw Collinson get his second score in the corner. Mercer again was close with the kick but the score remained at 14-6

York kicked off and managed again to regain the ball. On the last, a kick was put through and Paul Cross won the chase and scored out wide. The conversion was missed and the score became 14-10.

Kirby’s re-start was dropped under the posts and the Bulls were again in a great position on the field. With Nathan Shepherd on for Jimmy Bingham and Lee Waterman on for Thompson, fresh lungs would hopefully help the cause. Thompson’s rest was short lived, as he had to return a couple of plays later when Steve Field suffered a serious injury. He was taken to Scarborough Hospital and had surgery on Saturday night.