Reds go for glory against Castleford (From Craven Herald)

Reds go for glory against Castleford

9:10am Thursday 28th January 2010

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Skipton 20 Castleford 14

What a relief it was to watch some excellent local rugby after the past month of freezing conditions with sub-zero conditions and icy pitches, giving an enforced long seasonal rest for everyone, Skipton were eager to get out on to the pitch on Saturday and start the New Year with winning ways.

However, with visitors Castleford being in third place in the league, and having been one of the few teams to actually play a game last week, they knew that they had a hard task ahead.

That task was made even harder when Castleford went ahead within the first five minutes.

They won a scrum inside the Skipton half, moved the ball out to the right wing and then recycled the ball quickly.

Fly-half Paterson then cross- kicked the ball to left winger Mattison, who side-stepped his opposite number and crossed the line to open the scoring with a try. Kicking the conversion himself, the visitors were 7-0 ahead.

The game was re-started, and Skipton gained a line-out from the Castleford clearance kick. The ball was won cleanly andwas passed out to fly-half Andrew Nicholson, who neatly chipped over the rushing opposition backs.

However, he was tripped in the resultant chase, and referee Keith Fox awarded a penalty to Skipton. The ball was kicked into touch inside the Castleford 22, Skipton won the line-out again, and attacked the Castleford line.

They were awarded another penalty at a subsequent ruck. On the 22 line, this was within reasonable range for Adam Oldfield, who stepped up and duly converted for 7-3.

Another line-out followed the re-start, and the towering Malcolm Willsher was brought down in a dangerous fashion, which resulted in Castleford second row Smith being shown a yellow card.

Skipton took play into the Castleford half, but couldn’t make the extra man advantage turn into points.

They were awarded a penalty for the Castleford wing forwards breaking too early from the scrum, but it was just too far for Oldfield, so the score was unchanged.

However, Skipton attacked again from the 22 drop out, with Oldfield chipping down the right wing and Jon Dillon chasing.

A scrum to Castleford near their line followed, and the Skipton forwards did a magnificent job of disrupting this, and were awarded a scrum in their favour.

This they won, and Matt Speres picked up the ball from the scrum and powered over the try line from five metres to put Skipton in the lead. Oldfield was unable to convert from near the touchline, so the score was now 8-7 to the home team.

Castleford kicked-off to re-start, and took play towards the Skipton line. Taking a quick penalty, the ball was passed to second row Reed, but an excellent try-saving tackle from full-back Darren Howson caused him to knock on.

Skipton won the scrum, on their own five metre line, and Speres once again picked up the ball and made an outstanding run to the half-way line before finally being tackled.

However, the Castleford defenders went over the top to kill the ball, and Skipton were awarded a penalty. Oldfield took it quickly, passed the ball down the back line and winger Dillon raced down the touchline, before being tackled a few metres from the Castleford line.

The Skipton support was there very quickly, recycled the ball and Dillon finally crossed the line to score at the second attempt in the corner. There was no conversion from the touchline but the score moved on to 13-7 to Skipton, and remained so until half-time.

Skipton started the second- half with new signing Jeremy Hargreaves coming on to replace the injured Dillon, and play edged backwards and forwards for ten minutes.

With Skipton applying pressure in the opposition 22, Castleford won their scrum and passed the ball out to their backline, but some excellent aggressive tackling from the Skipton centres caused the ball to be dropped.

Captain Jonathan Richards immediately scooped up the ball and raced through the opposition to score a try under the posts. This was easily converted by Hargreaves, and Skipton moved ahead to a 20-7 lead.

The re-start didn’t go tenmetres, so Skipton had a scrum on the half-way line to continue the pressure.

However, the Castleford defence held firm, and they were awarded a penalty for the front row not binding properly in the scrum.

This was taken quickly and scrum half Eadie made good progress until well tackled by flanker Sam Boatwright.

However, he was adjudged to have not rolled away fast enough, and a penalty and yellow card ensued.

They took the direct route from the penalty, straight at the Skipton defence, and kept attacking. The Skipton defence tackled well, but the ball was re-cycled and Castleford set up a rolling maul, which finally powered its way over the line for a forwards try.

Converted by Mattison, the score was now 20-14 and the match now a real nail-biter.

Skipton re-started, and gained a line-out on the Castleford 22. The commanding Skipton lineout won the ball again, but a penalty was awarded for offside in the line.

Hargreaves came forward to take the kick, and unfortunately the ball passed a few inches outside the post. Castleford took the 22 drop out, but were then caught off-side again.

Hargreaves again took the kick, but this time from the other side of the pitch, and even further out.

Another close miss kept the score unchanged, and the pressure on for the final ten minutes.

However, Skipton kept the ball in the Castleford half, with some lovely tactical kicking from fly-half Nicholson finding the empty spaces near the touchlines.

But Castleford are not near the top of the league for nothing, and Skipton were ahead for 70 minutes when the two teams played at Castleford until Castleford scored a final try.

And they tried again here, however the Skipton defence performed magnificently and kept them out, and so the final score remained at 20-14 for a well-deserved win for a Skipton team that hadn’t played since the middle of December.

This was a good win for Skipton, much needed to maintain their place in Yorkshire One, and a true reflection of what they can achieve. The forwards performed well all game, maintaining their discipline with the penalty count in Skipton’s favour.

The scrums were solid, and the line-out performed admirably, delivering good clean possession to the nimble back line, who were excellent in both attack and defence.

On Saturday Skipton travel to Dinnington, who lie one place above them in the league table, and an exciting game is in prospect.

Skipton: Grayston (Mellin); Sheehan, Binner, M Boatwright, M Willsher; S Boatwright, M Murray; Speres, Oldfield, Nicholson, Naylor, Richards (capt), Shaw, Dillon (Hargreaves), Howson. Repl not used: R Willsher.

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