Courage and commitment could not overcome the power and control of the league leaders Darlington Mowden Park at Grove Park and despite Ribb's valiant effort the visitors claimed two points that make their promotion place certain with a 25-10 victory, writes Trevor Graveson.

The Dalesmen gave everything mainly through a gutsy defensive display, but a cruel blow came when Park scored a converted try in first half injury time. From that moment on Ribb were always chasing the game and although they battled back to trail only 17-10 midway through the second period the Darlington club pulled away again to take a deserved victory.

Ground conditions were very heavy following the torrential rain during the previous couple of days, but as the weather relented a duo of hardy souls worked hard to remove surface water and make the pitch playable.

Park had first advantage of a blustery wind and used it to good effect to take an early lead with a simple penalty, but within five minutes Ribb were level when Stuart Towns stroked over a similar effort from close range. For a while the Dalesmen enjoyed parity, but their attempts to run ball out of their own half were unsuccessful and slowly but surely the huge visiting pack took a hold on the game.

The home scrummage came under increasing pressure conceding home ball on a couple of occasions and Ribb found it increasingly difficult to clear their lines with Park eventually registering a converted try.

Clever use of the wind soon had Ribb on the back foot again, but the side stuck to their defensive task well with the back row of Moore, Wallbank and Carr getting through a lot of hard work. Towns also impressed in defence, never shirking the tackle as Park tried to break through down the stand-off channel, and at the rear Ribb had Evans on patrol and one touchline tackle was superb, stopping the visiting winger in full flight. Remarkably Ribb's defence held, until that is the final moment of the half when the visitors were rather fortunate when scrappy scrum ball broke their way and the score moved on to 17-3.

The second half saw the Dalesmen enjoy more of the game territorially, but they were still faced with a battle to secure any possession, although on the few occasions they received quick ball they did look quite dangerous. Indeed they came back into the contest when a well-timed pass from Carr put Evans away for him to burst through a surprised Park defence. Towns converted and Ribb were back in it at 17-10.

But that was to be as close as they got as the visitors kept a stranglehold on possession, leaving Ribb little room for error, and unfortunately the mistakes crept in. A missed penalty to touch saw the Darlington side launch a powerful counter-attack and Ribb then conceded two penalties in quick succession to find themselves back on their own goalline.

Two further awards came as the referee seemed loath to allow Ribb to contest loose play, taking what is becoming an increasingly popular - though not always correct - line that the side with the ball shall be allowed to keep it.

The first kick hit the post and Ribb scrambled the ball to safety, but ex-West Hartlepool stand-off Kevin Oliphant made no mistake with the second to take his side 10 points clear.

Ribb's chance had gone and although they continued with commendable commitment they were never allowed a platform to mount a serious challenge again and Park emphasised their superiority with a fine third try late in the game.

Certainly Ribb need not reproach themselves over this result for Park's average scoreline in games this season comes out at 32-7, a remarkable 25-point advantage per game.

Every player for the Dalesmen contributed to a fine collective defensive display and that effort has got to be continued for Ribb still have four league games to play. The first this Saturday sees them travel to Hartlepool Rovers, then they are away to Westoe, home to Ashington and away to Cleckheaton.

Given the vagaries of the make-up of the national leagues and the as yet unknown destination of relegated teams at higher levels as they split geographically - North or South below National Division One and then East or West below North Division Two - Ribb need at least another win to ensure that they remain clear of any freak relegation situation.

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