Malton & Norton RUFC moved into top position in North East Two after beating battling Horden 28-16.

Malton opened the scoring with an Ian Cooke penalty when Horden failed to release the ball at a tackle but visiting centre Andy Turner responded with a couple of penalties to put his side ahead.

Both teams were having difficulty in controlling possession in the strong wind and rain but good handling did prevail when James McKay picked up at a scrum and fed fly-half Chris Creber before taking the return pass and sending Cooke over in the corner for Malton's opening try.

Malton appeared to be heading for the interval with a narrow lead but Horden exerted enough pressure on the home scrummage to push them over the line for No 8 Craig Gilmour to touch down. Turner added the extras.

As the weather improved so did the level of Malton's performance. Centre Alan Aitken, who had earlier threatened to break through, received the ball 20 metres from the line and sliced through to put Malton into pole position. Cooke added the conversion before Turner again narrowed the gap with a penalty.

A Horden forward was shown a red card for taking a cheap shot at Malton's Phil Ryan and Malton took advantage. With the pack wearing the visitors down Creber was able to open the game out to use the pace of Cooke and Ian Mansell on the wings. Both were rewarded in the final 20 minutes with a try each to seal a deserved win.

Updated: 09:25 Monday, October 04, 2004