NORTH LOWER THEIR GAME

Northallerton 1st team travelled to fellow strugglers Garforth, who's only win of the season so far was over Northallerton. Despite fielding a relatively strong side North put in a poor performance to fall to a 13-10 defeat.
North started much the brighter, with no. 8 Duffus breaking well off the back of the scrum and crashing through three Garforth defenders before team Captain Paul Dixon flopped over from a metre out. This however became a false dawn, as Garforth settled themselves and proceeded to out muscle and out think the visitors. North then had to make an early change as veteran scrum half James Kendall (nee Read) had to come off after 15 minutes with a suspected broken nose after a dubious clash with the home side no. 7. This allowed the introduction of young Glen Coates to make his 1st team debut and perform well in very difficult circumstances. With the home team flanker being prominent in open and tight play, North had no answer to the home teams strong arm tactics and succumbed to two easy tries before half time. North did not help their cause by constantly dropping or knocking the ball on in the centre of the field whenever they tried to bring the backs into play.It was also of no help when certain player(s) turn up with a hangover - you know who you are!!! Half time 10-5
The second half was fairly one sided, especially after Ian Duffus had had to go off with a damaged shoulder. However some resolute defending from Northallerton kept Garforth down to a single penalty 10 minutes from time. North rarely troubled the home side, that was until the final minute when Mike Rhodes went over in the corner, but it was too little too late, and the referee blew for full time after the failed conversion. Garforth completing the double over Northallerton with only their second win of the season.