York entertained Old Crossleyans in the penultimate Yorkshire 1 fixture and the final home game. A large and well watered crowd were to witness a hugely enjoyable and free flowing game.

The visitors, mired in a relegation battle to avoid successive drops, started much the brighter and flung the ball out to their speedy backs from the start. Captain and full back Chris Vine caused concern with a series of mazy runs with only desperate defence preventing an early score.It took all of 10 minutes for York to break into the opposition half , with Jon Dawes just wide from a difficult penalty kick from 35m out. No 8 Josh Parker then made good ground from a scrum, feeding prop Sam Blain who powered over the gainline to give the backs front foot ball; with the try line at their mercy, the final pass was inaccurate however.

Both sides continued to make handling errors partly due to the swirling wind and partly due to excellent pressure defence. York squandered chances twice with attacking scrums as Dan Coe took a while to adjust to his new position of hooker. A Dawes touchline tackle then prevented the Crocs winger from going close; from the lineout the pack drove upfield releasing the ball to centre Chris Peace who broke the tackle and chipped ahead. The once again outstanding Campbell Thomson gave the defender no chance in the tackle, the ball spilled out to Peace who drew the last defender to give Dawes the run in to the line; 23 minutes gone, 5-0 to York.

Mistakes again blighted both teams as they attempted to up the tempo with the defence from both being excellent and it wasn't until 33 mins when Dawes slotted a long range penalty, that the scoreboard was altered, 8-0 York.Straight from the kick off, the York backs had a rare defensive slip to allow the Crocs 10 to break clear and kick through to the 5m. The lineout was lost and the visiting forwards pummelled the line before the ball found its way to winger R.Sweeney who touched down in the corner. He then landed a superb kick to make it 8-7 with 5 mins of the first half remaining.York then went through the phases making marginal ground until Blain produced a miraculous pop pass from the tackle, to centre Tom Newitt who surged upfield and fed skipper Chris Fox to lollop 15m to score, conversion just wide again, 13-7 to York, halftime.

York were straight on the attack from the kick off with Adam Bowers receiving the kick deep in his half, he then powered through some weak tackles up to the half way. The forwards took the ball up a further 10m before it was fed wide to the backs. Peace drew his close marker and fed Newitt who hurtled through, stepped inside the speedy Vine and touched down under the posts; Dawes duly converting, 20-7.York then gave away a series of penalties that enabled Crocs to attack the line only to be thwarted by a Thomson tackle and turnover. With the home side largely retaining possession, play was confined to the halfway area for a while before standoff Neil McClure chipped through deep into the Croc's 20m, Thomson again secured turnover ball and an attacking scrum on the 10m. Somehow Crocs stole the ball and earned their own penalty from the host's offside; ball was flung out with wild abandon but pressure from Peace forced the knock on. Dawes chipped through and Peace showed his footballing skills to punt the ball to the line and score; 60 mins gone, 25-7 York.

Full credit to Crossleyans as they played their part in this entertaining game and enjoyed a period of attacking possession before the increasingly effective York midfield defence forced the error. In return York themselves knocked on, when within 5m of the line. Young colt Tom Woffendin was introduced with 10mins left, Peace took a well earned rest with Gaz Singleton taking up the no12 berth. He nearly scored when judged just in touch whilst chasing a clever McClure chip through, but was not to be denied 5 mins later when following a tap penalty, a Daz Rutherford drive and Newitt surge forward, he dotted down in the corner; Dawes at last successful with an extremely difficult kick, 32-7.Crocs attempted to have the last word and were denied again by knock on near the line. To rub salt into their wounds, Newitt's clearing kick was miscued but landed straight into Dawe's arms who kicked deep; great support play from the forwards ended with Coe plunging over in the last minute; full time York 37-7 Old Crossleyans.

A pleasing display from all 18 players, not without error but plenty of enterprise shown nevertheless. The pairing of Peace and Newitt will cause problems for any team in the future whilst Parker and Thomson were especially strong in the forwards, with the latter earning my vote as man of the match.