Goole Keep Pace with League Leaders

Yet another top performance from Goole as they overcame a very good and powerful Barnsley team on Saturday, despite a number of forced changes to the squad. Townend came in at 2nd row, Ryan Lamb at prop and there was a new centre partnership of the experienced Dougherty pairing up with Matt Lill. Louis Sugden, Phil Jackson and Luke Beecher making up the bench as “finishers”.

Goole got off to a perfect start from the kick off with a Barnsley player sin-binned for a swinging arm tackle Rhys Moore with the penalty and Goole lead 3 – 0 after just two minutes. This was followed by a spell of pressure from Barnsley after they gained possession from a poor restart however, try as they might, they found it difficult to break through the Goole defensive line. Opportunities to kick at goal were turned down as they went for the try but in the end they were unsuccessful as a result of crunching tackles from the Goole defenders that forced a turn-over which Goole cleared.

The lead was increased shortly after when the whole Goole back line linked superbly with quick hands creating an overlap for Sam Smith to go over for an unconverted try. 8 – 0. Barnsley replied with a penalty 8 – 3, but Goole scored again with a superb solo try from left-winger Binns who cut in from his own wing to slice through the hesitant Barnsley defensive line to score in the opposite corner, again unconverted for 13 – 3. When Goole had the ball they looked dangerous but unfortunately they could not retain possession for long enough after conceding a string of penalties at the breakdown throughout the first half. This gave the powerful Barnsley forwards the opportunity to kick for position and drive into the heart of the Goole line. The excellent Goole back row of Chantry, Taylor and Walker met the challenge with thunderous collisions to prevent tries being scored and the visitors opted to take the points from penalties to bring the half time score to 13 – 9.

Barnsley were the first to score early in the half as they finally broke through to score with a try following a line out and a series of powerful runs by their forwards to take the lead for the first time. 13 -14. If they thought that they now had the upper hand, they were mistaken as back came Goole with another of their trademark try scoring bursts. The hard running from the Goole pack and the improved discipline allowed them to retain possession for longer periods and gave them the impetus they needed. Matty Lill shrugged off two tackles to find space and off-load to Beecher who had come of the bench to restore Goole’s lead with a try under the posts, converted by Moore. 20 – 14.

Back came Barnsley with there own spell of possession but were pushed back to the half way line by the well organised Goole defence. This pressure resulted in a stolen ball and Lill once again found space to outpace the covering defence to score out wide and secure the bonus point try for Goole, unconverted for 25 – 14.

Just three minutes later, following an excellent passage of play involving forwards and backs, Sam Smith was tackled short of the Barnsley try line but a Rhys Moore shimmy and little off-load to the evergreen Phil Jackson, on from the bench, to power over from close range, unconverted, stretching the lead to 30 -14.

This three-try burst could have dampened Barnsley’s spirits but back they came with their second try and successful conversion to close the score to 30 – 21 with 20 minutes remaining. You just felt that the next team to score could go on to win the game and to the delight of the Goole supporters so it proved as Moore kicked a Goole penalty to give them some breathing space 33 – 21.

After retaining possession from the restart Goole pushed Barnsley back and did not give them the opportunity to respond. Louis Sugden was on in the second row and the front row were doing a great job as the Goole scrum finished the game strongly to nullify the earlier threat from Barnsley. With the rest of the forwards maintaining their excellent contribution and the centre partnership of Dougherty and Lill bottling up the mid-field Goole were able to press forward towards the Barnsley try line driven on by the irrepressible George Marwood at scrum half.

This pressure resulted in a scrum 10m out and Jackson once again showed his quality with a pick up from the base of the scrum to find an almost clear route to the try line to score his trade mark try that was converted by Moore to bring the final score to 40 – 21.

It was very difficult to choose a man of the match with every player in the squad making an outstanding contribution. Danny Holt was back to his very best but it was the hard work of the back row that stood out and won the severe physical challenges from the powerful Barnsley runners. As a result, hats off to Chantry, Walker and Taylor.
Saturday sees the firsts with a weekend off following their unfortunate early exit from the cup so the second team take centre stage entertaining Ionians 3s at Westfield Banks kick off at 2.15pm