Durham City 22 Cleckheaton 19

Cleckheaton travelled to Durham looking to continue where they left off against league leaders York last week. There was one late change , Tom Lillycrop was unavailable and Gus Milborne replaced him at flanker.
Cleckheaton played with the blustery wind behind them in the first half and put Durham under early pressure and earned a succession on penalties, the referee deemed that Showler the second row had infringed once too often and sent him to the sin bin on 3 minutes. Whilst Cleckheaton were dominant , the scoreboard remained redundant and it was 21 minutes of almost constant pressure before Jack Marshall got into space and touched down for his 10th try if the season, Dale Breakwell added the conversion, 0-7. It should have been more, from a 5 metre scrum, Jack Seddon controlled the the ball at the back of the pack until he was short of the line and was about to touch down when a Durham hand got under the ball and the chance was lost. On 30 minutes Marshall scampered over in the the corner for his second try of the game only to be pulled back for a forward pass. Brad Pears the Durham 13 was dispatched to the sin bin for not releasing in the tackle on 27 minutes, which would cost him later in the game. The only attack that Durham put together in the first half saw centre Gary Izomor go on a powerful run into the visitors 22, when the ball was recycled and moved right , Cleckheaton were stretched but a great cover tackle by Hayward should have prevented a score but the referee deemed the tackle illegal and sent Hayward to the sin bin and awarded the penalty try 7-7 after 37 minutes.
At the start of the second half Cleckheaton made progress down the middle of the field , a penalty was awarded some 40 metres out but Breakwell pushed it left of the posts.
Durham were coming into the game more and on 52 minutes , they took the lead when the visitors lost a ball at the line out and the ball broke loose and Dominick playing at flanker seized the opportunity to score wide on the left, conversion missed 12-7.
On the hour after Cleckheaton knocked on in midfield, from the scrum captain Paul Armstrong slipped away from the defence to score an individual try under the posts, kick was good and Durham led 19-7.
The next score could have been vital and it went to Cleckheaton. Good handling down the left wing saw Hayward elude the cover to cross for his 18th try of the season wide out on the left, Breakwell hitting the post with the conversion 19-12.
Durham went back on the attack from the restart and Cleckheaton conceded two needless penalties, the second added 3 points to the total 22-12.
There was a frantic last 8 minutes of play, as Cleckheaton powered downfield , first Josh Plunkett and then Matt Piper broke through the defence before Depledge put Jack Marshall into space on the right, as the cover came across he stepped inside only to be upended by a tip tackle from Pears who was sent from the field having already been yellow carded. From the penalty the ball was moved left and a try should have been scored but the ball was list forward , the referee brought play back for an earlier infringement and from that play captain Matt Piper crossed for his 4th try of the season, Breakwell adding the goal 22-19 with 3 minutes left.
Cleckheaton tried to make a game winning score but were thwarted by a knock on and the game ended 22-19 .
This was a below par performance from Cleckheaton who had they taken their opportunities in the first half would have been out of sight by half time.
There is a break in league action next week before Driffield visit Moorend on the 29th February for a massive game for both teams as it will be 2nd versus 3rd, kick off is at 1415.