HALLOWEEN HORROR

Northallerton 1st team again suffered selection problems with numerous players refusing to travel away or be called up from the 2nds and instead, opting for the easy game at home. This meant the call up of a couple of players from the 3rd team to travel to Thornensians in a vital bottom of the table clash. With North fielding a weakened team Thorne took full advantage to emerge triumphant 31-7.

North, although fielding a much changed back line, had early control of the forward play and were dominant in the pack. It was North who scored first, after the home team constantly dropped the scrum thanks to immense pressure from the front five of North, forcing the referee to award a penalty try with Young converting. This early lead proved to be a false dawn for North as Thorne then took complete control of the game and managed to keep the ball away from North’s dangerous forwards. Thorne also surprisingly, managed to disrupt North’s scrums to prevent a reoccurrence of the early try. This spread confidence throughout the home team with them running in four unanswered tries before half time to lead 24-7 at the break. Shortly after half time Thorne got the final score of the game when their winger outpaced his opposite number to score under the posts. North then made a couple of changes bringing on ex Captain Steve Robinson and future prospect Tom Harper in an attempt to tighten up the game and stop making silly mistakes. This proved effective but North never looked liked breaking through to score. The final score of 31-7 leaves North third from bottom of the league as Garforth, who North have already beaten, have now withdrawn from the league. Northallerton now need to rally round and get all players to be more committed to the club otherwise relegation could be a real possibility.
On the bright side tho, congratulations to Tank Bainbridge for not getting injured and to Rich Lonsdale for not getting carded. A very rare day indded!!!

Next week North 1st team face Harrogate Pythons at home in the Yorkshire Trophy competition, while Northallerton 2nds are away at Ripon and Northallerton 3rds are at home to West Hartlepool Amateurs.

Kick offs are now at 2.15pm for all games until further notice