Defeat at Scarborough For 1st XV

With Matty Lill still unavailable George Bastow returned, partnering Sam Smith in the centre with Elliot Harman retaining his position at scrum half after coming on in the Rochdale game and Rhys Moore stepping into the off-half position due to the departure of Harvey Blyth. The loss of the robust Jack Smith resulted in Sam Thurlow in the 2nd row and the mobile Raymond Coates returning at hooker.
With a strong breeze blowing corner to corner in Scarborough’s favour it was the home side that started on the front foot with both sides struggling to get into any real rhythm, gaining ground, but giving it up almost immediately due to individual errors or penalties. Scarborough missed an early kick at goal, but Goole handed them back the initiative with a penalty following a verbal comment from the Goole pack. The usual kick to the corner for a line out was well dealt with by the Goole defence but with no real danger the home team winger stepped inside three would be tacklers to open the scoring. The conversion was missed making the score 5 – 0 after 13 minutes.
With possession from the kick off Scarborough once again took the initiative and didn’t have to work too hard to get a second try due to lack lustre tackling by the Goole defence 12 – 0. This score stirred Goole into action as they went through numerous phases to push Scarborough back and they were awarded with a kickable penalty that they declined and opted for the attacking lineout. Good possession from the ever-reliable Newsum saw Goole press for the Scarborough line only to lose possession and allow the home side to clear. An outcome that would be regularly repeated for the rest of the match.
Despite Goole now looking more threatening, they managed to present Scarborough with two golden opportunities to score due to sloppy play in their own half but to the relief of the travelling supporters, Scarborough managed to waste the opportunities and keep Goole in the game. With no real flow to the game or quality rugby from either side, it wasn’t a classic, as Goole twice threatened the Scarborough line in the final five minutes of the half but failed to get any points. The first assault was repulsed when they were penalised for crossing and the second when they lost the ball 5m from the Scarborough line. Not to be downcast, they tried again to get on the scoreboard in the last minute of the half but with the Scarborough try line beckoning, an unnecessary speculative long pass was intercepted by the defender who ran the length of the field to score under the Goole posts. The conversion bringing the half time score to 19 – 0 leaving Goole with the very tough task of getting anything out of this match.
With the strong breeze now in their favour Goole put all their faith in winning the catch and drive battle as they continually ignored kickable penalties to go for the attacking lineout as Scarborough were unable to get out of their own half for the first 20 mins of the second half. Disappointingly, despite the constant pressure on Scarborough, their defensive line stood firm as Goole’s predictable limited attack came to a grinding halt due to a series of knock-ons, fumbles, penalties conceded, held-up, you name it. With Scarborough also giving away a stream of penalties that would have given Goole the lead if they had opted to take the points instead of searching for that elusive line break and resulting try, it was hard watching for the Goole supporters. Goole constantly lost the physical battle in contact and as a result looked totally short of ideas as they persisted with the failed line-out option in search of a try.
Substitutions followed as Goole pressed with Will Devenish now on at scrum half, but things did not significantly improve as it became tackling practice for the Scarborough defence with not one line breaker in the Goole attack. With the referee finally issuing a yellow card for the number of penalties conceded by Scarborough, this looked like Goole’s chance to get something out of the game. Unfortunately, that did not happen as the Goole scrum now came under pressure due to forced changes, thereby giving Scarborough the boost, they needed to see the game out. Worse was to come for Goole as Eddie Newsum then had to leave the field with a painful looking arm injury.
However, despite the developments, Goole never stopped competing and were finally rewarded with a try after Sam Smith managed to offload in contact to the supporting Backhouse on the Scarborough line. The unsuccessful conversion bringing the score to 19 – 5 with just minutes to go and a glimmer of a chance of Goole getting a losing bonus point. Sadly, for them that did not happen as Scarborough dominated the final few minutes of the half and were rewarded with a bonus point try in the corner to bring the final score to 24 – 5 and a justified home win for Scarborough.
This was a tough day for Goole and yet the match was one that they could most certainly have won, with the key score being the gifted interception try just before half time. If they had kept it tight until halftime and turned round just 12 points behind with the strong breeze in their favour, the match would have been theirs to win simply by kicking the many easy penalties that Scarborough conceded in the first 20 minutes of the second half. Granted that this would have stirred a home team reaction but with a better game plan and discipline Goole could have seen it through. In the end it was a very disappointing performance and result that makes the game next Saturday against Selby even harder, especially when considering the number of first choice players still unavailable through injury.