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Sat 01 Feb 2020 ·  North One East
West Hartlepool
1st XV
20
19
Tries: J Seddon, M Hayward (2)Conversions: D Breakwell (2)Yellow Carded: T Lillycrop
West Hartlepool 20 Cleckheaton 19
Geoff Akerman1 Feb 2020 - 21:32
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Cleckheaton fall to last minute defeat.
Cleckheaton made the trek to face West Hartlepool who have struggled all season to get results.
Cleckheaton were without Niall Jackson and Tom Austin and Brad Marsden was unavailable. Damian Pearson who resigned from Bradford Salem went into the second row with Lillycrop and Milborne at Flanker, Chris Piper was in at prop alongside Ben Thrower and Andy Piper.
West played with the wind in the first half and made a mess of the kick off, the ball rolling into touch in goal and from the scrim on half way , Cleckheaton applied some pressure early. Thrower made some strong runs up the middle of the field as did his front row partners and in the opening 20 minutes , Cleckheaton were in the ascendancy without troubling the scoreboard. Lillycrop , Plunkett and Milborne all carried well and the ball was getting out to the backs to make more ground . Depledge made some terrific outside breaks and Matt Piper took the ball forward with his usual style. The first score came on 35 minutes , Seddon got on the end of Depledge's pass to race some 30 metres to score in the corner, Breakwell added the extras from the difficult angle, 0-7. On 39 minutes , Tom Lillycrop was sin binned and from the resultant penalty Zac Southern kicked a 25 metre goal , at half time West 3 Cleckheaton 7.
Andy Piper was struggling with a rib injury and had to be replaced by Archie Rika Rayne, Joey Carley came on for Damien Pearson. Whilst still down to 14 men , Hayward squeezed over the line for his 15 th try of the season, kick was missed, 3-12.
On 49 minutes after a period of pressure near the Cleckheaton line, second row James Borthwick crossed for a try , converted by Southern to reduce the arrears to 10-12.
10 minutes later after the forwards had set the platform, Hayward popped up in midfield to score under the posts , Breakwell added the goal and the lead went out to 10-19.
On 68
minutes , Tom Lillycrop was lucky to remain on the field after a no arms tackle on Hilditch, the referee played advantage and replacement Alex Barker crossed for a try, Southern missed the conversion 15-19. Cleckheaton should have scored a 4th try on 72 minutes but the ball was knocked forward with the try line in sight.
Wests never gave up and with time running out , flanker Adam Brown crossed for a fine try, Southern missed the conversion but West had a 1 point lead at 20-19. There was time for a restart and Cleckheaton were unlucky not to get a potential game winning penalty kick after Wests player failed to release the ball and despite the protests , the ball crossed the touchline to end the game. This was only Wests 4th win of the season and the joy on their faces said it all.
Cleckheaton need to regroup quickly after this setback, a first defeat in 7 games and it doesn't get any easier, table topping York visit Moorend next Saturday kick off at 2.15.
Cleckheaton were without Niall Jackson and Tom Austin and Brad Marsden was unavailable. Damian Pearson who resigned from Bradford Salem went into the second row with Lillycrop and Milborne at Flanker, Chris Piper was in at prop alongside Ben Thrower and Andy Piper.
West played with the wind in the first half and made a mess of the kick off, the ball rolling into touch in goal and from the scrim on half way , Cleckheaton applied some pressure early. Thrower made some strong runs up the middle of the field as did his front row partners and in the opening 20 minutes , Cleckheaton were in the ascendancy without troubling the scoreboard. Lillycrop , Plunkett and Milborne all carried well and the ball was getting out to the backs to make more ground . Depledge made some terrific outside breaks and Matt Piper took the ball forward with his usual style. The first score came on 35 minutes , Seddon got on the end of Depledge's pass to race some 30 metres to score in the corner, Breakwell added the extras from the difficult angle, 0-7. On 39 minutes , Tom Lillycrop was sin binned and from the resultant penalty Zac Southern kicked a 25 metre goal , at half time West 3 Cleckheaton 7.
Andy Piper was struggling with a rib injury and had to be replaced by Archie Rika Rayne, Joey Carley came on for Damien Pearson. Whilst still down to 14 men , Hayward squeezed over the line for his 15 th try of the season, kick was missed, 3-12.
On 49 minutes after a period of pressure near the Cleckheaton line, second row James Borthwick crossed for a try , converted by Southern to reduce the arrears to 10-12.
10 minutes later after the forwards had set the platform, Hayward popped up in midfield to score under the posts , Breakwell added the goal and the lead went out to 10-19.
On 68
minutes , Tom Lillycrop was lucky to remain on the field after a no arms tackle on Hilditch, the referee played advantage and replacement Alex Barker crossed for a try, Southern missed the conversion 15-19. Cleckheaton should have scored a 4th try on 72 minutes but the ball was knocked forward with the try line in sight.
Wests never gave up and with time running out , flanker Adam Brown crossed for a fine try, Southern missed the conversion but West had a 1 point lead at 20-19. There was time for a restart and Cleckheaton were unlucky not to get a potential game winning penalty kick after Wests player failed to release the ball and despite the protests , the ball crossed the touchline to end the game. This was only Wests 4th win of the season and the joy on their faces said it all.
Cleckheaton need to regroup quickly after this setback, a first defeat in 7 games and it doesn't get any easier, table topping York visit Moorend next Saturday kick off at 2.15.
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