Pontefract 18

YMCA 19

(Yorkshire I)

STAND-IN stand-off Jon Smith was YMCA’s hero, as the Laund Hill side opened the New Year with a splendid victory at Pontefract.

The lead changed hands no fewer than five times in the last 10 minutes, but it was Smith who held his nerve to slot over the winning penalty deep in injury time to seal the winning points after an absorbing encounter.

Pontefract had opened all fire and brimstone, and within six minutes of the kick off they had points on the board after a solid catch and drive at the line out saw second rower Matt Williams claim the touchdown in the corner.

The visitors were soon back in the game and spent good periods of time in the Ponte half putting the home side under pressure, but all they had to show for a lot of enterprise were three points courtesy of Smith after the home side were caught offside.

Things then took a slightly ugly turn when a large melee broke out on the stand touchline.

What started it was unclear, but the referee calmed things down and duly sent YM second row Sean Merrick and Ponte’s inside centre Bacon to the sin bin.

YM were spending a lot of time in the visitors half but could not turn pressure into points and on a rare occasion inside the YM half the home side showed them just what was required with a repeat of the first try.

This time the forwards drove on well from a line out and it was left to back rower Andy Townend to power over for his side’s second try, this time Dean added the extra points for a 12-3 lead.

Back came the YM and their pressure finally told, when Smith, who had an excellent game at stand-off, took the ball from the consistent Simon Wilson and held it just long enough for man-of-the-match Nicky Clarke to come onto it at terrific pace creating a gap a mile wide to leave the home side stunned.

Smith then nudged over the conversion to leave his team 12-10 behind at half time.

The second half proved to be serious drama, starting with the sin-binning of the influential full-back Dean for a high tackle, but the home side managed to secure their line despite strong YM pressure.

The game ebbed and flowed until the 70th minute when Pontefract were pulled for offside and Smith stepped up to claim the three points and give YM the slenderest of leads.

Four minutes later Ponte were back in front through Dean after the YM were caught offside, but referee Mr Saunders continued to play stoppage time and in doing so threw the YM a lifeline.

They accepted it and put everything into attack and again were awarded a penalty, right on full time, Smith keeping his nerve to go ahead once more 16-15.

However, in a last-ditch effort to rob Pontefract of the ball in the tackle Whitehead, so often the hero, turned villain as he was pinged for handling the ball on the floor, and the home side went wild as Dean yet again slotted over the ensuing penalty to make it 18-16.

All appeared lost for the YM but Mr Saunders continued to play on, and the YM threw the kitchen sink at it and looked as though they were going in for a try having broken through a resolute Pontefract defence, but in desperation to stop the score Ponte tackled the man without the ball and the referee didn’t hesitate to blow his whistle and Smith calmly coaxed the ball between the posts to claim victory.

There were some excellent all round performances, but special mention to Nicky Clarke who had a blinder while Jon Smith controlled the game effectively.

YMCA: Clarke, Beever, Bentley, Shaw, Marshall, Smith, Wilson, Stu Dyke (Hodge), Murphy, Steve Dyke, Housley, Merrick, Hill, Leone-Mazza, Whitehead. Subs not used: Swift, Tindall.