Fourth Time Lucky As Goole Take Narrow Win in High Scoring Match

This fixture finally took place after previously being postponed three times due to an unplayable pitch, and for the crowd attending, it was a game certainly worth waiting for with 10 tries and 69 points being shared in a nerve-jangling contest. Goole deservedly coming out on top with the result in doubt right up to the final whistle.
Goole kicked off in difficult conditions underfoot, and in the initial exchanges there was no indication of the drama that was to come with Goole having early possession in the Malton half but unable to make any headway against a strong defensive line. With play now in midfield, and the Goole defence caught off guard, a quick tap from a penalty conceded by the home side resulted in a strong run into the Goole 22. This was followed by another penalty that was kicked for a 5m lineout that resulted in an unconverted try after a successful catch and drive by the powerful Malton pack from their first visit to the Goole 22. This was followed a few minutes later with a repeat score, once again the referee penalising the home side allowing Malton to kick for territory and come away with a converted try following another tap penalty by the heavyweight Malton pack close to the Goole line, despite being a forward down after an earlier harsh yellow card. 0 – 12. Goole were certainly on the back foot at this stage with no real rhythm to their play and penalties being conceded, so it was no surprise when they went further behind from a Malton penalty to bring the score to 0 – 15 after 25mins of the match and the home team supporters fearing the worst.
To the credit of the Goole team, they finally burst into life in what was an impressive four try blitz before half time to take an unexpected 24 – 15 lead leaving Malton and Norton somewhat shell-shocked and pleased that the half time whistle came when it did. The instigator of the revival was Man-of-the-Match, off-half Tom Holt who had his best game since joining the club as he ran and passed the ball at such pace getting the Goole backs on the front foot and threatening with every carry. Centre Sean Roberts was the first to cross the line, his try converted by Rhys Moore and this was quickly followed by Danny Holt who timed his support run impeccably to gather the offload from his namesake, but no relation Tom, to score out wide. 12 – 15. With Malton and Norton now being penalised it allowed Goole to kick for the corner with their catch and drive being initially halted, but a second surge resulted in Newsum going over for a rare try near the posts. Disappointingly, the conversion was missed although Goole now had the lead at 17 – 15, but they had not yet finished their first half scoring spree scoring their fourth, and best, bonus point try. Tom Holt making the initial break with a clever scissors putting Jack Smith on a charge to the line before popping a pass to the supporting Danny Holt to score his second try. The try was successfully converted by Moore to extend Goole’s lead at half time to 24 – 15.
From the restart Goole struggled to recapture the high tempo fluidity they achieved prior to the break, and it was Malton & Norton that started the better side, taking advantage of an early 50 – 22 kick and following successful penalty kick to close the gap to 24 – 18. Once again the home side had to weather the early Malton storm before they came back to score their 5th try of the game when Charlie Walton caught a high clearance kick in midfield to straighten up, before Sam Smith made the half break to put brother Jack into open ground to score after a 45m sprint to the line. Whilst the try stretched Goole’s lead to 29 – 18, the unsuccessful conversion had the home supporters anxious that the missed kicking points could prove costly as 25mins of the match remained. With the referee continuing to award penalties for, what appeared to those watching, harsh high tackle penalties, the official applying the new tackle laws more firmly than we have seen of late, It was Malton that benefited as they once again came away with an all-too-familiar try following a penalty kick to the corner allowing a heavyweight forward score to close the gap to 29 – 25 after 18mins and the game once again in the balance. With all replacements off the Goole bench, the game went into a ten-minute lull with neither team threatening to score before the away team narrowed the gap again thanks to a penalty from their quality goal kicker. 29 – 28 with just 12mins remaining and Goole now in need of discipline to prevent gifting the visitors with a penalty kick opportunity to take the lead.
As the game entered its final stages, Malton were awarded a penalty that was just too far out to kick at goal, but they backed themselves for another successful catch and driver score from the resulting lineout. This time however they were unsuccessful as Goole turned the ball over to win a penalty to clear, working their way up field to win a lineout outside of the Malton 22. With possession from the lineout, Goole set up an impressive driving maul that could only be stopped illegally by the Malton defence as it inched closer to the try line. The penalty was kicked for a 5m lineout that resulted in a 6th try for Goole after numerous phases, Rhys Moore diving over from close range for what it was hoped to be a match winning score. Tom Holt taking over kicking duties successfully kicked the conversion to give Goole a 36 – 28 lead with just a couple of minutes of the game remaining. All Goole had to do was to gain possession from the kick off and wind the clock down, but such is sport, that did not happen as Malton got possession and worked their way downfield again to score yet another close range try from their powerful forwards. The conversion from out wide hitting the post to make the score 36 – 33 and time remaining for the restart that thankfully Goole saw out to win the game after gaining possession from the restart for the first time in the match.
Both teams deservedly being cheered off the pitch by the breathless supporters who had witnessed this enthralling close content between two very good teams, with Goole’s golden spell before half time proving to be the turning point in the match. They do it all again in the return fixture at Malton next month so one not to be missed.