Injury-ravaged North Ribblesdale defeat fellow strugglers Acklam and climb off the bottom of Yorkshire One

NORTH Ribblesdale's heavily depleted side produced a rousing performance to defeat fellow strugglers Acklam and lift themselves off the bottom of Yorkshire Division One.

The home side's injury crisis meant that they had to reshape the back division. Alex Naylor switched to stand off with the Thwaite brothers Andrew and Michael forming the centre pairing.

Latvian winger Martyns Bokis was moved from wing to full back while John Marshal was drafted in at No.8.

The new back row trio of Marshall, John Padley and Richard Woods played a huge part in their side's success as they helped combat the big Acklam pack.

Ribb had to weather early pressure from the visitors' pack. Acklam had an efficient line-out while their scrum, which enjoyed an early edge, found its match in the home eight.

Whenever his side were under pressure, Marshall showed commendable coolness in retrieving the ball from a retreating scrum. He did this on a number of occasions and made ground before enabling his side to clear their lines.

Ribb were tackling really well in the middle of the pitch where they were without their injured skipper Jonny Moore.

Acklam had a very big midfield but Naylor and the Thwaite brothers just kept knocking them down and prevented them from making significant ground.

Ribb's resilience was rewarded when they took the lead. A Naylor kick forced an attacking line-out which lock Will Booth won cleanly.

Acklam looked to be defusing the situation when Padley won a crucial turnover and passed to Mick Thwaite. There didn't appear to be anything on, but Thwaite had other ideas. He stepped inside and rounded the full back to score a try which he converted himself.

This signalled a spell of Ribb dominance, the last for a long time, but they cause enough problems to score a second try.

A driven maul was stopped in the Acklam 22 before Naylor put Matthew Dakin in for a try which Mick Thwaite converted .

To round off the half Mick Thwaite kicked a penalty for offside to give Ribb a 17-0 half-time lead. .

The second half was a totally different story as Ribb conceded ten penalties and had two players yellow carded which meant they had to play 20 minutes with 14 men.

Ribb also took veteran John Thwaite off and operated with two loose heads in the front row, but it didn't work well and it enabled Acklam to gain an important edge in the scrums.

Prop Thwaite did return and the scrum improved but it remained under pressure for the rest of the game.

Acklam's right winger scored a converted try and they followed up b y driving the home side deep into their own 22.

A series of penalties were conceded and Graham Newhouse was shown a yellow card which left Ribb a man short. Acklam took advantage as they ran in their second try.

Ribb continued to concede penalties and were doggedly defending as they desperately tried to retain their lead.

Acklam were big in the middle but could not get through ,from deep they got the ball to their quick winger who looked certain to score but a magnificent covering tackle from Bokis brought him down on the 22.

No sooner had Newhouse served his penance then Naylor went off for a high tackle .

The last five minutes saw Acklam tiring and the return of Naylor saw Ribb start to attack. They were held up over the line and then wasted a scoring opportunity with a two-man overlap by throwing a miss pass.

This was a stirring Ribb performance and young lock Booth surely impressed the watching Yorkshire selector. Marshall was solid at the back of the scrum, full back Bokis was dangerous in attack and produced a try-saving tackle, while the stars of the day were the centre partnership of Mick and Andrew Thwaite.