North One East: Malton & Norton 12 Driffield 6

DERBY matches between these two are normally open and exciting, with plenty for the large following of both sides to savour.

However, this was a rather dull affair, with the Malton pack dominating territory and possession for long periods.

That dominance was such that almost every set scrum was either driven viciously backwards by Malton or collapsed because of the inability of the Driffield front row to hold station.

Had the young referee from Manchester taken action earlier against the ever-collapsing Driffield front row, a less stop-start game could have ensued.

The first piece of excitement came after eight minutes when Malton No 8 Ali Coe made great progress out of his 22, selling a dummy on the way to the Driffield line.

However, he was held up over it, but from the resultant scrum, the Malton pack drove relentlessly forward.

As they crossed the line with the ball at Coe’s feet, scrum half Paul Angus pounced and got the touchdown to give Malton a 5-0 lead.

Driffield soon reduced the arrears when Malton were penalised for not releasing after a tackle, but much of the rest of the stanza was played in the Driffield half without Malton being able to break down the visitors' defence.

On the stroke of half-time, Driffield were reduced to 14 men when a flanker was sin-binned for a deliberate knock on as Malton attacked.

Once again the Malton pack drove forward and over the line for Angus to again touch down and convert to give Malton 12-3 interval lead.

The second half was also almost entirely played in Driffield's but again the constant sound of the whistle meant that neither side could get any structure.

The only bright moment came from Malton, when they did eventually put together a good three-quarter movement containing both skill and pace, with winger Blake Spencer being unlucky to lose the ball as he reached for the line.

The only score of the half came when Malton were again penalised for failing to release, and Driffield reduced the lead to six points with five minutes remaining.

Malton then successfully retained possession to see out the rest of the game and record a first home win of the season.

Both sides will be disappointed with their performance, however, with Malton needing to make better use of their possession.

On Saturday, Malton, who are up to 11th, are at second-from-bottom Guisborough (13th) for their first encounter for many a year.

Malton & Norton: X Payi; R Armitage, V Dyantjies, N Raniuira, B Spencer; L Reduva, P Angus, L Vaughan, J Thornton, B Boothman, S Emms, J Lumley, J Rounthwaite, A Coe, S Triffitt. Replacements (used): R Featherstone, T Lowry, A Whitney.