Huddersfield YM 12 - 7 Cleckheaton

On a blustery day at Laund Hill Cleck elected to play with the stiff breeze at their backs for the first half.The initial skirmishes were centre field but the match had hardly got going when YMCA were awarded a penalty and Gavin Stead bagged the points with a fine kick into the breeze.Cleck weren’t fazed by this reverse and set about forcing their way into the home sides half with a series of strong drives down the middle of the park .A penalty kick at goal was declined and Ross Hayden went for the corner and an attacking side line-out.The resulting maul rumbled inevitably towards the YMCA line but this time it was Rob Afoa-Petersen, not Rich Piper, who peeled off the side to crash over, Hayden added the points.
It looked like normal service was resumed as far as Cleck were concerned as they continued to have the lions share of possession and territory, but this Saturday they were unable to put together periods of continuity due to their propensity to spill the ball in contact and YMCA’s rush defence, a defence which often arrived before the ball.
As the game approached the half hour Cleck finally put together a meaningful central attack which ended inches short but were thwarted by a defence relieving penalty at the final ruck. In a rare excursion out of their own half YMCA were awarded another penalty and again Stead banged it over with aplomb.
As half time was fast approaching Cleck, desperate add to their slender lead ,turned down two further penalty shots at goal, instead electing to go for the catch and drive and both times they were foiled, once by YMCA’s revised defensive tactics of non –engagement and then by their own an inability to hit the jumper.
The second half resumed with YMCA now having the advantage of the breeze and their stand –off Ed Barber has a big boot which he used it to pin Cleck back at every opportunity. Stead had an early opportunity at goal ,again he took it and YMCA were 9 -7 in the lead but there was still 35 minutes to go and plenty to play for .Cleck continued to enjoy most of the possession but were having to attack from deeper thanks to Barber’s relieving kicks when YMCA did get the ball . With 20 minutes to go Cleck’s pressure lead to two kickable penalty awards in a couple of minutes, this time Hayden elected to go for goal but inexplicably both kicks missed their target and, to make matters worse ,minutes later, Stead banged over yet another penalty for YMCA.
Back came Cleck and laid siege to the YMCA line but, instead of a unified deliberate build up to a scoring pass as time ticked by everything became rushed and ,whilst individuals made some powerful runs, particularly young Alex Dawson, there were too many handling errors. James Wilson got over the line but lost the ball before he could ground it and yet again two further catch and drive attempts were thwarted by YMCA’s revised defensive tactics.It’s often said defences win matches and Cleck have certainly benefitted from this maxim in recent years , but this time it was YMCA’s turn and they used to good effect.
Despite this reverse Cleck remain second in the League and next weeks match at Moorend against Pocklington should be a cracker.