YORKSHIRE I leaders YMCA were good for their 33-14 win over Scarborough at Laund Hill, but they will want to address the issue of discipline incoming games.
A growing penalty count and a lack of edge towards the end of the contest led to the home side turning over ball and surrendering field position time and time again.
They went into the game with a re-arranged back line as a result of the absence of stand off Damian Clayton and influential outside centre Adam Ryder.
Ed Barber moved to stand off, and at centre Gavin Stead played alongside Sam Housley with Lloyd Bentley and Tom Bullock on the wings.
YM started very positively and were ahead after three minutes through a Stead try after the centre had taken an inside pass from Bentley and the centre added the conversion.
Scarborough hit straight back with tighthead prop Jamie Drayton forcing his way over the line and Tom Ratcliffe added the extra points to level the scores.
The home side restored their lead when a perfectly formed maul shunted back the visitors defence until skipper Mark Whitehead was able to ground the ball over the line, but Stead failed with his conversion.
However, they struggled to maintain momentum as referee Mr Lindsay picked up a variety of infringements, mostly being up too quick and being caught offside and the resultant penalties gave Scarborough breathing space.
As the first half clock ticked into injury time it was the YM forwards produced another maul which had the visiting defence going backwards allowing Whitehead to claim his second try and Stead added the conversion to make the half-time score 19-7.
From the start of the second half YM continued to play their open running game and finally a gap was created for Stead to force his way through for his second try and he tagged on the extras.
The home side could scent the win and once again excellent collective effort saw the ball worked around the field leaving the visitors defence scrambling before Josh Wrafter burst through and then neatly off-loaded to the ever available Whitehead for the captain to complete his hat trick.
With Stead on target again YMCA’s work looked over but Scarborough dug in and started to apply pressure to the YM line.
The home defence was good but in their eagerness to get up quickly they began to be penalised regularly.
Instead of taking heed of referee Lindsay’s warnings they continued to infringe and after a sustained period of Scarborough pressure the official finally lost patience and awarded a penalty try to Scarborough for the YM’s persistent infringements.
The conversion under the posts was a formality for Ratcliffe, but the visitors could not further close the gap before the end of the contest.
YMCA: Johnson, Bullock, Stead, Housley (Sam),Bentley, Barber, Wilson, Dyke (Steve), Hill, Wrafter, Dyke (Stuart), Bell, Sharrock, Hodge, Whitehead. Interchange replacements : Smith, Lumb, Housley (Jack).
