It’s home rule as Joes break duck

Oct 31 2007 by Chris Roberts, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

ST JOSEPH’S celebrated their first home win of the Pennine League Premier Division campaign with a 32-16 triumph over Queensbury.

But they had to wait until the hour mark before they put daylight between them and their visitors.

In a tough first half, St Joseph’s just held the edge, with a try from the impressive Adam Illingworth and a Neil Barrett penalty making it 6-4.

A converted Joe Gratino try at the start of the second half nudged St Joseph’s further ahead before Queensbury hit back to cut the deficit to 12-10.

Fortunately, that was the signal for the home pack to step up a gear, with man-of-the-match Marvin Cox and Phil Simpson leading from the front.

And it wasn’t long before the pressure paid off for Lee St Hilaire and Illingworth to add further tries and extend the advantage to 12 points.

Once again, the Bradford visitors struck back to close the gap to 22-16.

But in the closing stages Joes showed their resolve, with Cox and Steve O’Keefe grabbing late scores, with Barrett converting to seal an excellent win.

And head coach Jody Shaw was pleased with the response of his players after last week’s defeat at Halifax Irish.

“The lads worked hard in training to fix the little things we didn’t do right at Halifax Irish,” said Shaw.

“They gave a good account of themselves this week and showed some great attacking play and very resilient defence.

“I was very pleased with the way we showed patience and ground them down. Next up is Clayton at home and, again, it’s an important match for us.”