Match Report. Saturday 8th September 2012
York 7 – 10 Bridlington.
By Steve Maud.
Bridlington players and supporters must have woken upon Sunday morning pinching themselves ensuring that had not dreamt their last minute victory at Clifton Park on Saturday. They had just pulled off an audacious raid of which, even the infamous Ronnie Biggs would have been proud. Rarely does one side dominate a game so much and lose, but that was the case as Bridlington disappeared to the east coast with four points to credit their account, leaving the York contingent to ponder how they squandered so much possession, field position and scoring opportunities.
The referee unfortunately did have a significant impact on the outcome of the game. But the truth be told despite him failing to award to two perfectly good York forward scores due to his poor positioning, York should have put this game well and truly to bed.
Bridlington carry a very real threat through their counter attacking style from turn over ball and quick tap and go from penalties and free kicks. Their fullback Zonda is an elusive and quick runner who will test most of the defences in the league from broken play situations. He was rarely given the opportunity in this game as York got on top of their error and penalty count compared to last week. The couple of times in the game that Zonda found himself in space, the York scrambling defence just coped with the threat.
Bridlington went ahead on 12 minutes from a Mellonby penalty in front of the posts after York had been caught offside in the midfield defence. This was one of the few times that Bridlington secured any decent field position in the first half.
The pattern of the game saw York almost exclusively in the Bridlington half and squandering several excellent tries scoring opportunities. The Bridlington defence of their own line was dogged but was fairly overcome on 32 minutes when Bates crossed following a powerful catch and drive by the York forwards only to find the referee completely on the wrong side and refusing to award the score.
On the stroke of half time York were awarded a penalty directly in front of the posts approximately 25 metres out when the Bridlington defence were caught offside but Ben Johnson missed the kick and Bridlington led 3 – 0 at half time.
The second half was almost a repeat of the first with sustained pressure in the Bridlington red zone but again poor execution and decision making allowed the manful Bridlington defence to hold.
York saw another good score by Freddie Portrykus fail to be awarded as again the match official found himself on the wrong side of the driving maul before in the 17th minute of the second half, York did score. Following another attacking line out deep in the Bridlington 22, Fox took the ball at 2 in line, only to find the Bridlington forwards had stepped back refusing to engage with what they thought would a catch and drive with ball at the back of the maul, Fox had the presence of mind to keep hold of the ball and drove into the retreating Bridlington forwards, thereby nullifying and Bridlington claims for a truck and trailer penalty, from the front foot ruck Enslin came on a crash ball and was unstoppable as he smashed his way over the Bridlington line to score.. Ben Johnson excellent conversion kick from the touchline into the breeze giving York a 7 – 3 lead.
The game followed the same pattern with York going close several times but not capitalising. With less than 5 minutes to go, following a couple of relieving penalties, Bridlington forced their way deep into the York half. It seemed that Bridlington had saved their best for last and it was now York’s turn to scramble in defence as Bridlington pressed hard. It appeared that York had survived the examination when they hustled the Bridlington winger into touch 5 metres from their own line. But the previously secure lineout let them down for one of the few times in the game. The ball was spilt in the middle of the line and as they tried to re-gather the ball a York forward was deemed to have handled the ball on the floor and penalised. A quick tap and go by Bridlington was repelled but the follow up drive by number 8 Thompson saw him score with the referee in the right position this time to award the deciding score. Mellonby converted.
York restarted the game but they were out of time and Bridlington had mugged them pinching the points from under their nose and winning 7-10.
There were some positives from this defeat, Dave Bates (lock) and Fraser Kirkley (hooker) both had impressive debuts and Chris Fox had great game. The tight five produced excellent ball and field position. If this continues then victories must surely follow.