Skipton RU
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Defeat leaves Skipton in danger of missing out on promotion
Goole 27 Skipton 7
After occupying a promotion place since the start of the season it is so disappointing to see the Reds now performing so badly against low placed teams and thus putting their prospects for promotion in jeapordy. Losing to second from bottom Dinnington two weeks ago could be excused as a blip but being totally outplayed on Saturday by third from bottom Goole was a total humiliation.
The reality in both these disappointing games is that opposition fighting to stave off relegation has worked harder to gain the points than Skipton has. The other factor seems to be that Skipton very much pre-plan strategy and when external factors such as a howling gale off the sea greets them or when injuries occur they have difficulty adapting.
Saturday's performance really was dire and worse was to come when the game had to be abandoned just before the end due to serious injury to the Red's full back Lee Battle. It was a dejected Skipton team which left the field heavily defeated with their colleague still on the field waiting to be taken to hospital.
The first 20 minutes of the game had seen both teams equally matched albeit Goole had the benefit of the wind behind them. It was also clear that they intended to use their renowned heavyweight pack to advantage and indeed it was unusual to see the usually infallible Red's forwards not being able to control the game. When Skipton did get the ball the link between the forwards through the half backs to the backs was poor all day.
By now Goole were 5-0 up. Then an appalling grub kick forward by Skipton straight into Goole's hands gave them a further easy try which a conversion and then a successful penalty kick enabled them to build up a 15-0 lead by half time.
There was some hope in the opening few minutes of the second half when flanker Iain Sneddon, active and alert as always, darted in for a try. Brydon Maiava beat the gale to get the conversion and Skipton seemed back in the game.
But Goole, sensing victory, kept grinding away making Skipton look second best. All their scores came from hard work by their forwards. They added two more tries before the game was sadly abondened after seventy minutes because of the leg/knee injury to Lee Battle. Goole's win at 27-7 was a major boost to their survival but a major blow to Skipton.
The only good news was that Skipton's biggest threat, Yarnbury, also lost heavily and so promotion to Division One is still within Skipton's grasp but the final four games are going to be nail biting!
10:58am Monday 3rd March 2008
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