Yarnbury Defence Halts Goole Run

Goole’s eight match unbeaten run was brought to a disappointing end on Saturday when they failed to overcome a very tough and organised Yarnbury defence. They had plenty of opportunities but sadly failed to take any of the many half chances they created and were limited to just one unconverted try.

The visitors came in a confident frame of mind after an excellent home win against Wath and they showed their defensive qualities from the kick off as Goole, with the wind at their backs, pressed from the start only to be held up over the try line. Their failure to cross the try line continued and despite Goole dominating the first half, they could not find a way through the Yarnbury defence. A straight forward penalty miss did not help things, as Goole continued to press but failed to capitalise on half breaks as a result of handling errors.

When they had possession, Yarnbury were confident and moved the ball well but it was not until the 35th minute that they managed to get into the Goole 22 when a forward pass brought the threat to an end. Goole had another penalty at the end of the half but opted to kick for the corner rather that kick for points. The 5m line out was won and once again they threatened the Yarnbury try line without success. The half time 0 – 0 score line being somewhat unexpected.

Playing into the wind Goole gained possession and went through numerous phases before Louis Sugden broke the defensive line with a powerful run and the recycled ball found its way to Beecher on the wing to score out wide and give Goole a 5 – 0 hard fought lead. If anyone thought that this was the start of a period of Goole domination they were quickly corrected as Yarnbury scored just a couple of minutes later after creating an extra man out wide from a scrum just in the Goole half. The conversion was missed to level the score to 5 – 5. Spurred on by the try, Yarnbury began to move the ball confidently and cut through the Goole defence only to waste a golden chance with a forward pass with the try line at their mercy. This did however give them confidence as they pressed the Goole defence for the first time in the match. It was now the Goole defence that showed its quality as the game went into the final quarter and heading for a stalemate.

It took a repeat of the slick move superbly executed by the Yarnbury backs to break the deadlock as they broke through around the half way line to score out wide. The excellent conversion gave Yarnbury the lead 5 – 12 with just twelve minutes remaining for Goole to rescue the game. What followed was constant pressure from Goole as they dominated possession and territory for the remainder of the match as they threw everything into attack. Penalties were conceded by Yarnbury as a result of the pressure they were under and Goole spurned the opportunity to kick for goal opting for line outs and scrums just metres from the Yarnbury try line. Disappointingly the Goole errors continued with knock-ons, spilt passes and wrong options as they became more anxious and failed to capitalise on their position. Pop passes and slick handling that had been the hallmark of Goole’s recent performances was nowhere to be seen as the final whistle blew to the celebration of the Yarnbury players.

As with many games, domination of territory and possession mean nothing if you do not take advantage and turn them into points. Goole had plenty of opportunities to win the game but were predictable with none of the recent try scoring sparkle on display. It could be argued that a draw would have been a fair result for two very evenly matched and determined teams but it was Yarnbury that got the result.