EMLEY MOOR, St Joseph’s A and Underbank Rangers are through to the semi-final of the Supplementary Cup.
Moor gained sweet revenge for their Holliday Cup defeat by Lindley Swifts earlier in the season by securing a 36-28 triumph, while St Joseph’s beat Meltham All Blacks 56-34 and Underbank won 70-54 at home to Slaithwaite Saracens A.
However, Moor at Swifts was clearly the match of the day, with the visitors taking full advantage of playing downhill in the first half to open up a 32-8 lead.
Within six minutes, Pennine League Division II team Emley had wiped out Third Division Swifts’ eight-point advantage on the competition’s handicap system with tries from Ben Adamson and Scott Wilkinson and goals from Andy Tillotson.
That helped calm any Moor nerves, and by half-time Tillotson had scored two tries and Mick Hanmer and Jamie Lang also crossed to put the visitors in control.
But in the second half the Swifts battled back strongly down the hill and cut the deficit to 32-22.
But then man-of-the-match Tillotson made the game safe by completing a hat trick before Lindley grabbed a late consolation.
But while Swifts were bitterly disappointed to lose to Moor, Slaithwaite’s young Division VII side took great heart from their battling performance at Underbank.
Saracens were always going to find the going tough against Underbank’s experienced Division IV team, who contained several National Conference League players.
But the visitors started well, scoring first-half tries through Graham Fryer and Jason Lamburn, with Paul Beal landing one of the conversions.
And it wasn’t until the final 15 minutes that Rangers were able to stamp some real authority on the contest as they scored three tries to take the game beyond the visitors’ each.
Slaithwaite will now be hoping to build on this spirited display for the remainder of the season, with Gavin Dyson, Fryer and Anthony Dawson all showing up strongly at The Cross.
