Cleckheaton 28 Pocklington 33

Cleckheaton fell to defeat to the final play of an absorbing game at Moorend. Thiu Barnard started in the second row in the only change from last weeks game at Morley, Matt Wood, Archie Rika-Rayne and Ben Dearing were on the the bench.
Pocklington started strongly with their big pack carrying the ball well. On 6 minutes as Cleckheaton were trying to launch a counter attack, Dale Breakwell threw a long pass but it was intercepted by centre Richardson who raced away to score an easy try, Pollack added the goal 0- 7 .On 11 minutes , Breakwell reduced the arrears with a penalty goal 3-7. Both teams continued to probe for openings but defences were on top and Pocklington were having the edge with some aggressive play at the rucks. Dale Breakwell atoned for his earlier mistake on 26 minutes when he spotted a gap and sprinted clear for a 4th try of the season, he also added the goal and Cleckheaton took the lead 10-7. The lead was short lived as on 33 minutes , Pocklington got a 2nd try when the left wing Dixon sped clear to score in the corner, kick was wide and the visitors took the lead 10-12. There was more to come as on 38 minutes , second row Thiu Barnard doing a decent impression of flying winger dived over in
the corner for a spectacular try 15-12 at half time.
Early in the 2nd half, Breakwell kicked a straightforward penalty to extend the lead to 18-12. The lead changed hands again when a kick out of defence failed to find touch and Pocklington went through several phases before an inside pass saw No.8 Holbrough cross for their 3rd try of the game, Pollack added the goal from in front of the posts, 18-19 before he added a simple penalty 2 minutes later to extend the lead to 18-22.
Mike Hayward made some determined runs out of defence and up front Brad Marsden and Tom Austin got through a ton of work in both attack and defence.
On 56 minutes, right wing Jack Marshall got on the end of a Breakwell crossfield kick and scored a great try taking the full back , corner flag and the Cleckheaton touch judge across the try line with him. Dale Breakwell added a towering conversion and Cleckheaton regained the lead 25-22.
Pollock added another penalty on 60 minutes before Breakwell replied to restore the lead to 28-25. On 63 minutes , it was a level game after another Pollack penalty 28-28. The intensity continued with both sides battering each other in an attempt to force a win. The turning point in the game came with what was the final play of the match , Pocklington put the ball into a scrum 30 metres from their own line, Pollack chipped over the defence and a wicked bounce took the ball away from the cover allowing Pollack to race 50 metres to score the match winning try. The kick was wide and the referee blew his whistle to end the match.
Cleckheaton were not at their best on the day , the Pocklington pack were immense throughout and having outscored the home team by 4 tries to 3 just about deserved the victory.
Brad Marsden took the Man of the Match award with Christian Pollack taking the honours for Pocklington.
Next week, Cleckheaton are scheduled to play at Malton&Norton kick off at 3:00 pm (further announcements regarding the current situation will be advised when available)