GATE SHUT

Northallerton 1st team travelled away to play Harrogate Pythons, and came away victors with a close, hard earned 6-7 win.
The first half was spent mostly in the middle third of the pitch as neither team could breach the others defence effectively. The only score came via. A dubious penalty awarded to Harrogate for a minor infringement. The Harrogate fly half converted the kick easily despite being in pain with a minor knock. Norths fly half Joe Terry, was sin binned five minutes before half time just in case he got injured! Half time 3-0
Harrogate were again awarded another penalty just after the break to increase their lead to 6-0.
The reintroduction of Terry sparked North into life as they started to look dangerous through backs Greg Aspin and Steven Lister. It was Norths young prop Phil Swall who was the unlikely hero though. Following a line out, North went on a 20 yard rolling maul before being illegally pulled down just short of the try line, Swall took a quick tap penalty and ran for nearly 4 full yards before diving over the try line like a fat Tom Daley, Dan Luck with the conversion. For the last 20 minutes North defended heroically in midfield, but never looked like conceding a try. Their only downfall would have been through a penalty or drop goal, but North showed great restraint and calmness to limit the opposition to only two long range attempts. Both attempts fell well short, partly due to Harrogate's fly half having to leave the pitch due to injury and no replacement kicker being available.
Again Martin Dennison and Canadian Marc Waldon proved their worth, with good all round performances to shore things up until the final whistle.
Next week North are at home to Thornensians with a 2.15 kick off.

Northallerton 2nd team travelled to Billingham and were unfortunate to return on the wrong end of a 25-13 defeat.
Norths tries came from Jeff Foster and Martin Sanderson with a conversion from Matthew Fishburn. Fishburn was making his first appearance for over 3 seasons due to being busy packing Tescos bags, but should hopefully be available for the remainder of the season as he as now passed that job on to Adam Massey. The game was spoiled somewhat by too many cards for both sides for minor offences that neither side complained about. North also had 2 tries disallowed but Billingham played to their strengths with a larger pack that proved all the difference.
Next week North 2nds have yet to secure a fixture.

Northallerton 3rds again fielded a full 15 plus two subs for the home game versus Horden but fell to a 0-35 defeat.
North started well and were camped on the opposition try line when a rush of blood from Norths scrum half resulted in a red carded for illegal use of the boot. This reduced North to 14 men for the remaining 75 minutes of the game.
Horden took full advantage of their extra man and moved the ball out wide at every opportunity. With the man advantage Horden scored a penalty and three tries before half time, and three tries in the second half with just one conversion.
There were good displays from old blokes Australian Jaco Jansen, Andy Clarke and Paul Hand, and some young lads whose name I'm not too sure of yet!
Next week North 3rd team are at home to Stocktonians, kick off at 2.15pm.

H Johnson.