Greetland A 4 Silsden 48

High on the hill top, Greetland is never a balmy destination, but on this occasion Silsden arrived in a driving gale, a rainstorm and with just 12 men for their Pennine League Division Four West clash.

Things looked as bleak as they felt, but Silsden are developing a strong sense of belief and great morale.

Playing up the hill and in to the wind and rain, Silsden scored a brilliant try with Tim Wilkinson outpacing the cover to run half the length of the pitch.

The early unconverted try led to a period of dogged defence, only breached once when Greetland had the numbers out wide to get over the line.

Silsden were undeterred and came back with tries from James Bowdin, a second from Wilkinson, and Jason Scott, all unconverted in the high wind, to establish a 16-4 half-time lead.

Silsden lost another player when Steve Fenwick took a knock when cleaning up a loose ball, but they now had all the advantages of the elements and the slope and scored almost at will, with some great handling in the conditions.

Jonny Crowther went in for a try, followed by his front row colleague, Danny Whittaker who was having a tremendous game.

Further tries came from Bowdin, Jason Scott, and Jake Smith, before the final score from Whittaker, his second.

He took the ball at full tilt, bounced off several tacklers and then ran a great arc to beat the defence and score at the side of the posts. Crowther assumed the kicking duties in the second period was successful with four conversions.

Silsden are at home to Illingworth on Saturday (2pm).