6th FEBRUARY 2020

Pontefract Pythons   19  -  knaresborough   14

Man of the match - Simon Bickerbike

Scorers - Try Phil Liddle Con D.Armstrong Pen D.Armstrong 4

Saturday 6 February 2010 Yorkshire Division Five Pontefract Pythons 19 Knaresborough 14 The Pythons avenged an early season defeat with a solid performance but in truth should have won by a higher margin. The home side dominated possession and looked particularly strong in the forwards but probably would have benefited by giving their backs more of the ball. Against a much larger pack the Pythons forwards were supreme bolstered by the return of influential back rower Kev Day and as ever lead from the front by captain fantastic Phil Liddle. The visitors were undisciplined from the outset giving Pythons stand off Dave Armstrong plenty of points scoring opportunities from penalties and after finding his range with a couple of early misses he opened the scoring with a couple of well taken efforts . Knaresborough responded with a penalty of their own but all the meaningful try scoring attempts came from the Pythons. Day was unlucky to be held up over the line whilst lively scrum half Dave Wright had a score ruled out for obstruction and Simon Bickerdike put a foot in touch when going over. The Knaresborough line was constantly under barrage with Colin Swift, Rich Armstrong and Ian Holland battering away up front. Something had to give and eventually from a driving maul Phil Liddle forced his way over and Armstrong converted. The visitors had very few opportunities but any attacks they did have were snuffed out by fine defence from Mick Wassell and Liam Senior The Pythons failed however to ram home their advantage so were faced with the difficult task of defending the slope in the second half. Knaresborough took advantage of the advantage given by the slope and scored a try of their own as the home defence tired and for a short while it looked like a winning position may be lost. The cool boot of Armstrong added two more penalties to quell nerves and some resolute defending with Dave Brown and John Trevorrow to the fore kept the visitors at bay. John Stevenson almost snatched an interception to seal the points and Craig Liddle and Charlie Patterson both went close but in the end it was Armstrong’s penalty goals which settled the matter. The supporter’s man of the match award was awarded unanimously to the tireless work of waspish flanker Simon Bickerdike a constant thorn in the side of the opposition.

.

.

.

Report by Flatcapper