MALTON 24

Ilkley 6

KNOWING that this was a vital game to win to keep clear of the relegatioon zone Ilkley made a goob start taking the game to Malton.

Dominant in the scrums Ilkley won good ball to put Malton under pressure and they had them going backwards.

They soon conceded a penalty converted by Justin Hewitt and followed this with an excellent break by Dave Bussell who was stopped just short of the line.

However, Ilkley failed to capitalise from the resulting scrum and a try failed to materialise.

A further Hewitt penalty increased Ilkley's lead before Malton pulled a penalty back to make it 6-3.

Then inexplicably Ilkley seemed to switch off after 20 minutes and allowed Malton to take control.

Although the forwards maintained parity in the scrums they did not press home their early advantage despite two against the head by the returning Alex Munro making his seasonal league debut.

Ilkley took their fair share of line-out possession but were unable to launch any penetrative attacks from them and in the loose they were too often outnumbered by a Malton eight who began to realise that they could possibly win the game.

This and Ilkley's habit of standing out from the rucks and mauls and leaving the ball winning to five or six forwards must stop immediately if they are to retain Yorkshire One status.

Malton started to take more possession and their backs began to be more confident.

A speculative kick down the lefttouch stood up high in front of Hewitt who could only watch Malton's winger gleefully catch the ball and race over for a converted try to take them to 13-6 at the break.

The second-half showed no improvement from Ilkley and despite brief flashes of skill and commitment from Bussell, Nick Brook, Jimmy Carr and Nigel Jenkinson, Ilkley made too many wrong decisions when in possession or lost the ball due to a lack of support.

Ben MacDonald made some determined runs but it was never going to be Ilkley's day as more mistakes crept into their play.

Their will to win seemed non existent despite the promptings of fly-half Paul Gray. The whole team seemed lethargic at times.

Malton stepped up their game and claimed two more penalties before their right winger burst through a fragile defence to score wide out.

They deserved their win and put more pressure on Ilkley who must now beat West Leeds at home on January 30 to avoid going to the foot of Yorkshire One.

It is to be hoped that the first team squad as a whole puts in the required training and effort to ensure the next league win.

Whilst the absence of several first team regulars did not help their cause on Saturday Ilkley know they can and must do better in the coming weeks.

Knaresborough 7

Ilkley B 7

Ilkley's intrepid third team travelled to face a very experienced and battle-hardened Knaresborough side.

As in the previous week, the game was close fought, territorial advantage was shared and the result was in doubt until the final minute.

Ilkley's fine mix of experience and youth was able to counter the organised juggernaught of the home side.

This resulted in the scores being restricted to a converted Knaresborough try and, to the visitors delight, an inspired try from skipper and flanker Phil Kershaw. Stand off Adrian Cowgill added the conversion.

The home side failed to secure victory by missing a penalty with the very last kick of the game.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.