Yorkshire League: Baildon 10, Barnsley 3.

Baildon coach Kenny Pollard said after this third successive Thwaites Yorkshire Div-ision Three victory: "Some day teams are going to realise we are a good side.

"Barnsley were fourth in the table and we were bottom of the pile, and maybe soon we will stop creeping up on sides. Perhaps we caught them cold."

Promotion-chasing Barnsley, also probably took the contest too lightly, having beaten the Jenny Laners 50-14 in October, but won't need any convincing now about the home side's merits.

Although Baildon only held a 5-0 lead at half-time having played down the slope, they gave a gutsy display to take the second half 5-3.

That came chiefly on the back of a solid pack display in which No 8 Gary Strauss and flanker Jim Hutton were highly influential. But there was also some sniping runs by scrum half James Dawson from quick tap penalties, the pace of left wing-er Richard Moorhouse and the strength and pace of centre Chris Smithies to admire.

The problem is, however, that having lost their opening 11 league matches, baildon are still very much odds against surviving the drop.

To avoid slipping into the revamped Yorkshire Division Four North - the basement section for our area - next season, Baildon must overhaul Old Rishworthians.

However, the Halifax-based club are still five points ahead with a game in hand, and Baildon have only four matches left.

"We realise we are basically playing for pride," admitted Pollard, "but I hope that is enough for my players, as it is good enough for me. We are proving we are not a social side - we are a serious rugby club."

Having failed to establish the kind of advantage they wanted in a first half punctuated by the odd hailstorm, it was always going to be literally an uphill battle in an unseasonally sunny but cold second half.

"I was nervous right to the final whistle," admitted Poll-ard. "But they had one or two big, strong lads in the pack, and we were generally fitter.

"They were certainly not the same side we played against at their place, and we were more enthusiastic. We upped the pace and cut down the errors in the second half, and some of their lads were blowing a bit in the last 20 minutes.

And I must congratulate the referee Rodney Hogg (York-shire Society). He is the first official I have seen in York-shire Division Three who has penalised a side for not rolling off the ball quickly enough when they have been tackled.

"Most of the referees allow the side in possession about five seconds for a team-mate to get up and take possession."

From the first fluid back movement of the match, Bail-don scored a try in the 27th minute. Smithies made a half break in midfield, fellow centre Dave Hemming kept the attack going left and Moorhouse had enough room and speed to score on the flank.

Baildon set about their second half task with relish and won a string of penalties, visiting hooker Gary Butcher and 52-year-old prop Brian Johnson both being yellow-carded.

Eventually a tap penalty by scrum half Dawson led to Wilde crossing for a try on the right. Flanker Gavin Rhodes landed a penalty for Barnsley in the 65th minute.

Bill Marshall

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