Old Crossleyans 30

Ilkley 5

The Dalesmen's occasional travel sickness kicked in on this trip deep into the high Pennines on a miserable Autumn Saturday.

Halifax is the home of the Old Crossleyans club, their pitch wedged in tightly between housing estates, giving a claustrophobic feeling when contrasted with the open spaces of Stacks Field. The pitch is about the minimum size for league rugby and dictates a certain type of game at which the home side is extremely accomplished.

However, is pointless crowing about the pitch when your game simply did not come up to the standard of the opposition. With the paucity of good ball, Ilkley were not able to get their expansive game going to any effect. In addition, Crocs are, undoubtedly a good side.

They have a useful pack which controlled the scrummages, taking a couple against the head and pushing the Ilkley scrum back too many times for comfort. One effort resulted in a pushover try, despite referee Mr Dixon failing to spot an unsatisfactory touchdown.

They took good ball from their own line-out and disrupted one or two of the Ilkley throws, although the line-out generally worked well for the Dalesmen. As a result of their forward power they were able to lay on good ball for stand-off Tony Waite to put his prodigious boot to good use both in clearing his lines and in tactical kicking from the many penalties Ilkley conceded.

He also got his talented back line working well and they manufactured good moves to set up tries for centre Liam Martindale and full-back Chris Seymour. One conversion and a penalty goal by Martindale had Crocs 15-0 up before the Dalesmen began a mini recovery.

Having made a bright start pressing the home side's line for five minutes, mis

takes and penalty offences allowed Crocs to begin their onslaught on the Ilkley line. More mistakes and penalties gave them the scrums that upset the Ilkley equilibrium. The two tries followed on 14 and 19 minutes.

However, Ilkley showed some gritty determination and fashioned a try for flyer Dan Nulty after laying siege to the Crocs line for four good phases. Nick Bell's long pass was well taken for a good try on 33 minutes. The deficit just 12-5.

On the stroke of half-time the Ilkley recovery was well and truly dented when Crocs took play back to the Ilkley line. Having messed up one pushover they had another go. This one succeeded and they went in at half-time 20-5 up.

It would be a long way back for even the most spirited of Ilkley sides. Spirit is a feature of the Dalesmen these days and the second-half saw a rather better display both in attack and defence. It has to said that Crocs tended to over elaborate their back play to the detriment of the score line, but it was the tenaciousness of the Ilkley defenders that caused the numerous mistakes.

Ian Moffatt's tackling was, as always fearless. James McBirnie, Simon Smith and Nick Bell were also there to be counted when it mattered.

They restricted Crocs to the half-time score for 30 minutes, during which Mr Dixon showed yellow cards to Crocs flanker Terry Michael and Dalesman Ian MacKenzie in quick succession. However, ten minutes before the final whistle replacement prop Richard Thomas emerged from loose play to charge through some hapless tackle attempts to go in under the posts. That made it 27-5 and, with the last kick of the match, Martindale added a penalty goal to make the final score 30-5.

Coach Richard Midgely will draw little comfort from this display, but can be pleased with scrum-half Richard Bean's progress. His pass is quick, accurate and true but his two first team outings this year have been under severe pressure. It is therefore important the Dalesmen get the basics right and win some quality ball going forward. That will surely come, as will the ability to turn on the style even on unfamiliar pitches.This week the Dalesmen have not fixed up their match at time of going to press. Their next big match is a week on Saturday when Selby are the visitors for more league action.

The second XV welcomed Kiwi Mataleva Asomu to their ranks and came up with a good win at Stacks Field against a strong Crossleyans. 'Allan' is in this country on a working holiday and will be enjoying the 'Ilkley experience' over the winter months.