Slender Away Win for 1st XV

Goole travelled to their old rivals Crossleyans looking to continue in the fine form of their previous two games but against tough and quality opponents they found matching previous performances very difficult. Whilst they eventually came away with a hard-fought win, this was a toe-to-toe contest that could have gone either way as the lead changed five times and Crossleyans denied that they thought was a match winning try with the last play of the game.
With Billy Walker and Connor Walker back in the starting line-up Goole made a sloppy start to the match conceding a penalty from the kick off that was gratefully accepted by the home side to take the lead 3 – 0. The slender lead just lasted a few minutes as back came Goole with possession from a line out inside the Crossleyan 22, Jack Smith breaking through the defensive line before offloading to brother Sam who still had work to do but managed to go over for an unconverted try 3 – 5 after just six minutes. Shortly after Goole thought that they had another try after snapping up a loose ball in mid field and Billy Walker making ground before the referee blew for a tight forward pass as Jack Smith charged for the line.
With both teams having difficulty in retaining early possession this was a very frantic start to the match as Crossleyans hacked a loose ball on halfway deep into Goole territory and won a penalty near to the Goole try line. The quick tap penalty restart catching Goole napping for the home team to recapture the lead 8 – 5.
This then became a sticky patch for Goole as they continued to concede penalties in open play either relieving pressure on the home team defence or allowing them to kick into an attacking position. With the home team backs starting to look dangerous from quality line-out ball, it was no surprise when their centre found an inviting gap at pace to score under the posts and stretch Crossleyans lead to 15 – 5 midway through the first half.
The home team were now looking dangerous as Goole had to dig deep to stay in the game as the penalty count continued with no real game management composure. They did threaten the home team from time to time with Jack Smith being held up over the try line, but they did not look the organised team of recent weeks and struggled to make headway against the home defence. Yet despite not firing on all cylinders, they continued to battle and were rewarded with a Connor Walker try from close range to close the gap to 15 – 12 following Moore’s successful conversion.
With half time approaching and a Crossleyan scrum just inside their own half, it looked likely to be the final score of the half but the home team had other ideas as they scored the try of the match with superb handling from their back line to take the well-deserved half time score to 22 – 12.
The half time break giving Goole the time to regroup and address the numerous opportunities for improvement from the first half with the penalty count being a major issue. Another sloppy start by Goole saw them pushed back and defending a 5m lineout from the kick off but managed to clear the threat and push the home team deep into their own half with fine runs by Matty Lill and then Ollie Pearson that resulted in a yellow card for the home team powerful prop for an infringement near to their try line. The temporary loss of their prop being a key event in the game as Goole dominated the scrums for the next ten minutes with Tink Taylor looking particularly threatening.
With Goole now on the front foot with a series of penalties and scrums near to the home team try line it was only a matter of time before they scored with Goole pushing the home scrum backwards. Tink Taylor had a try disallowed for a knock on whilst picking up at the base of the scrum but the predictable try came in the following scrum when Taylor picked up again and popped a neat little pass to Rhys Moore to score, and convert his own try closing the gap to 22 – 19. With Chantry now on, the pressure continued with Goole opting for a scrum instead of a penalty near the home team try line as they enjoyed a rare spell of scrum domination. With their tails up, the Goole pack drove the home team over their own try line but were deemed to have been held up. Shortly after, the home team received another yellow card for a high tackle whilst defending their line. With the scrum reset and good quality ball two simple passes resulted in Matty Lill side-stepping his opposite number to go over for a try next to the posts. The conversion giving Goole the lead 22 – 26 mid-way through the second half.
To the home teams’ credit and players back after yellow cards, they dug deep and pushed hard to recapture the lead and were themselves held up over the Goole try line. With possession from the goal line drop-out they quickly got into yet another attacking situation with a lineout 5m from the Goole try line. With quality possession from the line out the pressure told as Crocks went over for an unconverted try and retake the lead once again 27 – 26 with ten minutes of the game remaining and everything to play for.
This certainly was an end-to-end tussle as it was Goole that now responded with Louis Greaves on for Jimmy Cruickshanks who once again had a solid game. Good kick return into the home team’s half by Oli Pearson and Raymond Coates got Goole once again on the front foot with the impressive Harvey Blyth pulling the strings. It was this period of Goole pressure that forced Crocks to concede a kickable penalty in their own 22 with the kick at goal option being rejected as Moore kicked for the corner and an attacking lineout just 8 metres from the home team try line.
The endeavour was rewarded with a close range try from Eddie Newsum, collecting a superb offload from Jack Smith, giving him the simplest of jobs to touch down and for Goole to go ahead yet again 27 – 31. The missed conversion meaning that the home team could still win the game with an unconverted try in the last five minutes of this pulsating match.
The long restart kick catching Goole out and forcing a hasty kick and possession to Crossleyans before Goole stole the ball and ran it deep into the home team territory. Ashton Neal receiving the ball and running through a gap before being tackled in front of the posts and Goole conceding a penalty at the resulting breakdown, quickly followed by two more allowing Crossleyans to kick deep into the Goole 22 for a lineout. With quality possession from the line out they went through numerous phases and gained ground with each play. It was from one such foray that they thought that they had won the game with a low drive over the Goole line and the home team supporters cheering what they thought was a winning try. Unfortunately, for them that was not the case as the referees deemed the ball to have been knocked-on in contact and then blew his whistle to bring this pulsating game to an end much to the despair of the home team players and supporters that thought they had won the match. It was a tough call but when you consider that both teams had a couple of similar claims rejected throughout the match, things evened themselves out.
In the end this was a game that either team could have won, and it was just a case of who had their noses in front on the final whistle. This time Goole got the benefit with the home team feeling bitterly disappointed. The winners were the spectators that witnessed a very tense match between two very evenly match teams. The main difference being the ten-minute spell where Goole scored 24 points whilst the Crossleyans well built prop was yellow carded
With a fair mix of good and poor moments both sets of coaches with be both pleased and disappointed and both sides have a lot to work on to eliminate the poorer aspects of the game. As far as the Goole team is concerned the fitness was once again very evident after winning whilst trailing at half time in their last two matches. One interesting stat being that this is the first try / points that Goole have conceded in total during the second half of their first three matches.
With an extremely tough away game at Old Brodleians next week there are a number of this still to improve on but this group of players are quite capable of that.