Skipton 26 Colne and Nelson12

by Simon Smith

WITH no league fixture, Skipton arranged a New Year friendly at Sandylands against their Lancashire neighbours Colne and Nelson.

The visitors put Skipton under early pressure with the first try from their stand-off being converted to give them a 7-0 lead. A second soon followed from a well-worked back line move finished by their inside centre. The try was not converted but the visitors seemed to be romping away at 12-0.

Skipton began to re-assert themselves with good interplay between forwards and backs and only a dropped last pass prevented a try to the home side.

A series of penalties on Colne and Nelson's line combined with good driving forward play lead to a scrum from which forward Ben Hall secured a try to reduce the half-time deficit to 12-5.

Skipton coach Mark Walton made some changes at the interval with wing forward Charlie Brown and winger Owen Higson being replaced by Gareth Atkinson and Paddy Murray. Young Redver Stork-Flatley moved to scrum-half.

Two penalties in Colne and Nelson's 22 put the visitors under pressure resulting in a try for the home-crowd favourite Harry McEneanie. The try was converted by stand-off Michael Mullins and the score stood at 12-12

A few minutes later, flowing back play from full back Matty Langstaff and centre Liam Jordan saw McEneanie brought down just short of the line but tremendous forward work put Ben Hall over for his second try, again converted by Michael Mullins, and the home side led 19 -12.

Good defensive cover work by Langstaff put Skipton back down the field only for a long-range kick from the visitors' full-back to peg them back.

Undeterred, Skipton fought back down the pitch to put winger Callum Patrick over for a late try, again converted by Mullins, to give a final score of 26-12 to the home side.