North Ribblesdale 29 Pontefract 10

NORTH Ribblesdale returned to winning ways against their old foes and fellow Yorkshire One strugglers Pontefract at Grove Park.

Ribb’s forwards surged into the visitors’ 22 from the start. Only desperate defence held them out but two penalties conceded by the visitors resulted in two easy kicks for Ribblesdale skipper Jonathon Richards to give the home side a 6-0 lead.

Pontefract then had some possession and the wily old scrum half Matty Hargreaves crept over for a converted try to give them the lead for the only time in the match.

Ribb were under pressure at the scrum but were the more cohesive side with Matthew Speres, Jim Tunney andNathan Dakin to the fore as well as the returning Simon Bolland.

Ten minutes before the break Speres made a telling break and Dakin was in position to take the scoring pass.

Kickers Richards and Clifton exchanged penalties to give Ribb a 14-10 interval lead.

Recent results have gone against Ribb but a sterner resolve was demonstrated in the second half.

Pontefract could only hold out for so long and two excellent tries from Bolland and Speres – one converted – and a penalty from Richards, completed the scoring for a much-needed win.

This was Ribb’s best performance with everyone’s defence outstanding and a couple of victories on the road should see them move up the table – hopefully beginning at Scarborough on November 15.

Simon Bolland was the most penetrative back on display by a country mile and Richard Wood and young Jim Tunney deserve special praise for the number of tackles made and yards gained going forward from the second row.

Defensively superior and quicker to the breakdown, Ribb will gain confidence from this performance.

They will also be hoping that their vacant Saturday will give the army of injuries an extra week to recover.