Dudley Hill Eagles 62 Silsden Park Rangers 14 - Struggling Silsden showed plenty of grit, despite going down to a heavy defeat. Loose forward Neil Jordan was their Man of the Match as he covered every blade of grass attempting to keep his team in the hunt. Threequarters Eddie Billing and Jim Owens also battled hard for Rangers, while influential back row man Sean Cooper possessed most of their best attacking ideas
Dudley Hill meant business right from the kick off, and raced into a 16-0 lead. But Rangers, although having a difficult time in defence, still showed plenty of promise on attack. After strong running from the forwards took them deep into home territory, scrum half Andy Bowness launched a pinpoint kick to the corner, and Cooper read the situation perfectly to pop up on the wing and touch down. Shortly afterwards a smart pass from Cooper released Ian Robinson out wide, allowing the elusive centre to make a mazy 40 yard burst through the home defence. Although Robinson was hauled down just short of the line, the ball was moved smartly to the left on the next tackle and Cooper took advantage again to dive over in the exact same spot
Rangers looked to be back in the hunt at this stage, but the Eagles really cut loose in the closing stages of the first half to run in four further tries and lead 40-8 at the break. Silsden refused to give up altogether though, and continued to ask questions of the home defence. Right wing pair Nigel Chew and Phil North both made impressive bursts and Mark Kent was held up over the line, while Nick Pyrah also went desperately close to scoring. At the other end Dudley Hill continued to take all their chances, but Rangers got their just reward when Jordan darted over from close range after an extended period of Silsden pressure. Bowness converted to complete the scoring
Tomorrow (Saturday) Rangers will be hoping for a change in fortune when they entertain Moldgreen (kick off 2pm).
n Keighley Town gained revenge for their cup defeat at Littleborough earlier in the season, with a well deserved 22 points to 9 victory in this Pennine League Division One Match.
Town continued their winning ways with some fine attacking rugby that saw stand off Richard 'Booter' Shaw open the scoring after some neat inter play and Kennedy converted.
Littleborough replied with a try after Town was robbed of the ball in the tackle and Boro crossed out wide.
The introduction of Daz Lynam settled Keighley and he increased the lead just before half time from a set play, Kennedy again adding the extras.
The second half saw Littleborough enjoying more of the ball and successive sets of six on the Town line led to them squeezing over to reduce Town's lead. Town's pack were now beginning to gain the upper hand and strong runs from Billy Davy, Paul Scott and Daz Walton into the Littleborough half laid the platform for Lynam to score his second try which Kennedy goaled.
In the final minutes scrum half Neil Kennedy made the game safe with a fine 80 yards try.
Ryan Hanson was Town's man of the match, pushed all the way by Rocky McNulty and the classy Richard Shaw.
n Shelf Lions vs Keighley Albion 'A' (match abandoned after 35 minutes). In a short and bad-tempered match the only matter of note was Chris Haggo's return to the Albion after an absence of three years. The prop made several crunching tackles and strong runs against a large pack which wasn't particularly bothered about whether a tackle was head-high or not. Unfortunately he had to leave the pitch after a deliberate attack to his knee.
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article