York battle to end

York's crunch fixture in their survival battle in Thwaites North 2 ended in a 10-0 defeat at Northumberland cup holder's Morpeth.

York RI (stripes) on their way to victory over Stocksbridge. Picture: Steven Bradshaw

With Davies, Allerton, Spanton again ruled out with injuries and work commitments, the York side had, on paper, a rather disjointed and unbalanced look. But on the field York competed for every ball and frequently had Morpeth wondering why they were the high flyers in the league and York were holding everyone else up.

The game started with York proving their defensive capabilities time and time again as Morpeth ran hard at the York cover.

For the opening five minutes it was constant Geordie pressure in York's half of the field. Bone crunching tackles by Simon Bullough and Jim Hawcutt, Mark Roberts and Nick Pawson saw Morpeth's strong running forwards hitting brick wall defensive consistency.

However, all this pressure had to show on the points board and Morpeth's big mobile second rower John Stafford barged over from close in when he picked up at pace cleanly. The relatively simple conversion was missed.

After 10 minutes Roberts broke his cover and raced into the hosts' half and fed Bullough when he took the tackle. Bullough, a big and deceptively quick-footed centre, went round his man and slipped to Sean Bass - Bass was caught on the home 22m line, but a lack of close support cost York the chance.

Morpeth and York swapped huge touch line clearances - York missed theirs and Morpeth didn't and suddenly Morpeth were back at York's throats in York's 22m area.

A huge hit by Bullough stopped one home side's attack stone dead and, despite Dempsey claiming good line out ball for York, Morpeth still kept under siege with their forwards doing most of their team's work.

After 20 minutes a Morpeth score had the deja-vu look about it when their previous scorer made it 10 points on the scoreboard with a carbon copy of his first try 10 minutes earlier. The easy kick for the extras was again. It has to be said that Morpeth deserved this lead but York were convincing the large crowd that they were very much still in the match.

The York team were claiming good line out ball via Dempsey and Andy Blyth and pugnacious scrum half 'J P' Laycock was causing lots of problems round the tail for Morpeth.

The York problem, though, was becoming apparent. Good possession was repeatedly being lost in the tackle and Morpeth were turning the possession gained into surging rushes into York's heartland, with plenty of support to boot. But York's tackling kept them at bay as the first half ran its distance.

Morpeth began where they left off by pounding at the York defensive wall, and York began by containing these attacks well.

It is worth nothing at this point, with nearly 60 minutes of the game gone, no penalty kicks at goal were attempted and only nine free kicks and penalties were directed at the touch lines. Roberts found indecision in the home team's centre and knifed through to set York on the attack but nervous hands cost York a knock-on and Morpeth cleared the lines.

Tom Copeland back in 1st team colours after a prolonged injury, repeatedly fielded high balls and tore into Morpeth's backs at pace. However, unforced errors cost York several chances of getting on the scoreboard.

Roberts again sparked panic in Morpeth's defence and the Geordies found it very difficult to contain York's Law College student. A penalty was their chosen option in stopping him and Brown put a tactical touch finding kick two metres from Morpeth's line. York won the line via Dempsey, mauled, rolled, mauled and a try looked more than likely. Somehow York blew their chance yet again and, following two desperately contested five yard scrums, Morpeth cleared to touch.

York ended the match taking the game to their hosts almost incessantly for the last quarter. Unforced errors again proved York's weak link as they attacked repeatedly in a frantic attempt to earn some points for their relegation battle. Even the trusty boot of Andy Brown was off target with two penalties from well within his compass.

As the final minutes ticked away York did not relent - another Roberts led surge into Morpeth's 22m area looked so promising until the ball was again lost in the tackle.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.