Goole Effort Sees Off Brid

In front of another bumper crowd Goole secured a tough win in perfect conditions against a feisty Bridlington side recently bolstered by the arrival of their southern hemisphere contingent of players. Just one change to the Goole starting line, with Josh Malcolmson coming into centre with Ollie Rayner returning on the bench as Bridlington kicked off with the opening spell of the match being played in the Goole half. From this early possession, Bridlington were awarded a penalty out wide in the first few minutes and a kick at goal attempt that drifted wide of the posts. With the drop kick restart being impressively caught at full speed by Ashton Neal and support runners arriving, Goole took the play down to the Bridlington 22 with a grubber kick to the corner for the line out. With the throw not straight, Goole had the put into the resulting scrum and forward momentum that gave Tink Taylor the opportunity to touch down for a try from their first visit into the Bridlington half. The conversion was missed leaving Goole with a 5 – 0 lead after just seven minutes.
The game then entered an uneventful period of play with neither side producing any quality rugby of note as both teams essentially cancelled each other out. Goole having the edge in the scrum whilst the Bridlington backs getting a slight upper hand in the one-to-one physical contest. The nearest either team came to scoring was when Bridlington were held up over the Goole try line. With ten minutes of the half remaining Goole finally got some momentum and pressed forward, running the ball back after kick clearances by the away team. In one such attack, a try looked nailed on with Danny Holt in possession and three team mates on his outside and just one defender to beat. Unfortunately, his try scoring pass was intercepted by a rapidly recovering defender and the chance was lost but the pressure remained as a Bridlington defender was penalised for a late tackle on Holt after he had passed the ball. With the kick at goal rejected, a 5m attacking lineout for Goole allowed them to keep the pressure on as Billy Walker was tackled into touch just short of the Bridlington line and another chance was lost. From the resulting lineout and following scrum Goole had the ball once again pressing for the try line but a dropped pass allowed the under-pressure Bridlington defence to clear. However, and respite was limited as the Goole backs ran the ball back to keep the pressure on the hard-working Brid defence as Goole squandered another chance losing the ball on the try line with Bridlington now a player short after their powerful number 8 was sin-binned for a reckless attempted kick as a loose ball. Not to be disheartened by the missed opportunities Goole stuck to their guns and turned down a very kickable penalty to kick for a lineout with the last play of the half. With good possession from Chantry they pressed for the try line with Lamb being stopped just short but with the ball recycled Matty Lill went over from close range to finally get more points on to the scoreboard. Moore’s successful conversion making the half time score 12 – 0.
Goole certainly started the second half with their tails up with Raymond Coates leading the way with a strong run into the away team 22 that resulted in a 3rd try by Rhys Moore after a number of phases. The successful conversion stretching Goole’s lead to 17 – 0 and looking in control as they kicked deep into the Bridlington 22 to maintain the pressure. However, things did not go to plan as the Bridlington fullback gathered a kick and slipped the initial tackle to get his team deep into the Goole half with an impressive run that resulted in an unconverted try after some strong charges to the line from the powerful Bridlington ball carriers. 17 – 5. With the away team back to full strength and their tails up, it was Goole’s turn to defend as strong runs by the Bridlington attackers got them over the game line and Goole on the back foot. Goole needed to respond positively to defuse this situation and to their credit, they did, pushing Bridlington back into their own half and forcing them to concede penalties that would enable Goole to build their score into an unassailable lead, if they had been kicked. To the frustration of many of the home supporters, the opportunity to extend the lead beyond two converted tries was rejected and tap penalties or kicks into touch for attacking lineouts was the tactic selected. The crowd frustration increasing when Goole managed to either give a penalty away or lose the line outs in the Bridlington 22 and come away with nothing.
Bridlington’s tactic was to generally kick for position but with the lively Goole backline, the kicks were inevitably returned with interest with Sam Smith breaking free and passing to the supporting Josh Malcolmson who was brought to ground just metres from the try line. On came replacements Sugden, Raynor and Devenish with the pre-arranged backline shuffle as Goole strived for the points to make the game safe. Winning yet another kickable penalty, and with only one thought in his head, Jack Smith grabbed the ball to tap and go past the back peddling defenders for the try bonus point score converted by Rhys Moore 24-5 and fourteen minutes to go. Bridlington’s response was immediate after Goole had conceded penalties from the restart and they got their reward for some powerful individual drives with a close range try under the posts to bring the score to 24 – 12 with ten minutes remaining. From here the game fizzled out with Moore surprising everyone with an unexpected drop goal to secure the match 27 – 12. In summary Goole looked the fitter and more accomplished team but struggled to take advantage of the many scoring opportunities they created or kicking penalty points to build a score. Joint coaching team Man-of-the-Match nominees today were Ashton Neal and Raymond Coates who competed throughout against bigger opposition. The challenge next week is a tough first-ever trip to Dronfield where it is expected that points will be hard to come by and a revised game plan may be needed.