Hemsworth 10 Skipton 10

SKIPTON came away from the long trip to Hemsworth with a draw on a bitterly cold November afternoon.

Playing up the slope in the first half, the Skipton forwards made a keen start. They easily coped with Hemsworth's heavy-looking pack, pushing them off the ball and taking an early scrum against the head.

Skipton put a long-range penalty kick to within yards of Hemsworth's line but an infringement gave the home side the put in at the scrum.

Again the Skipton pack drove Hemsworth off the ball as they took the scrum against the head. They sent the ball down the back line to put winger Jack McLeod over for the opening score. Stand-off Jake Duxbury added the extra points.

The Skipton forwards, with Harry MacEneanie to the fore, defended well from the re-start but a penalty to Hemsworth gave them the throw in on Skipton's line and from a rolling maul the home side went over for an unconverted try.

MacEneanie then had to retire due to a recurring shoulder injury and was replaced by Matty Wilson who was making a welcome return to the first team squad.

Liam Jordan followed MacEneanie a few minutes later with another shoulder injury, leaving Skipton feeling the loss of these two key players.

The home side crossed Skipton's line from a short-range penalty just before half-time but excellent defensive work by the visitors held the ball up.

Skipton extended their lead early into the second period with a penalty by Duxbury.

Quick hands by the Skipton back line got the ball into the corner just yards short of the home side's line and from the ruck skipper Chris Sheenan crossed for what appeared to be a try. The referee disagreed and ruled he had been held up.

Sheenan vented his frustration by taking the next scrum against the head and an excellent long-range return kick by full back Matty Langstaff put Skipton right back on Hemsworth's line, but they could not convert this field position into points.

Good line-out work by Luke Stockton again put the back line away but centre Hamish Munro was brought down just short of the try-line in front of the posts.

Excellent tackling by Langstaff and Munro pinned Hemsworth back and scrum-half Stuart Barraclough came in from nowhere to make a try-saving tackle.

Hemsworth sensed that Skipton were tiring and launched wave after wave of attack on the visitors' line with the travelling supporters becoming increasingly anxious as the minutes ticked down.

Eventually the home side broke through, securing an unconverted try to level the scores. The re-start did not go ten yards but it was academic as the final whistle blew.

New coach Dave Duxbury took encouragement from the Skipton performance, commenting: "Two more points in the bank, two more points away from bottom of the table."