Cleckheaton travelled to Percy Road looking to build on 2 comprehensive wins in their previous games. Storm Arwen had battered the North East overnight putting the match in jeopardy but Pocklington was relatively unscathed and the game was able to go ahead. James Wilson was missing from the line up for the first time this season recovering from knee surgery, Tom Breakwell filled in at full back and the rest of the team was as last week.
Pocklington kicked off with wind behind and were on the front foot early on but were kept at bay by some strong tackling and vigorous scrummaging. Cleckheaton were pinned back and the first score came with 20 minutes gone, an offside call gave a penalty goal in front of the posts for a simple 3 points.
Cleckheaton struck back immediately when the restart was knocked on and from the scrum with all the backs lined up to the left, Richard Piper picked up and went blindside and fed Tom Hainsworth who crashed over the line for his 5th try of the season , Dale Breakwell added the conversion for the lead 3-7.
Cleckheaton had several more opportunities in the next 15 minutes but were thwarted by the referees whistle when in attacking positions. Half time arrived without further addition to the score.
5 minutes into the second half, Cleckheaton were down to 14 men as Jack Seddon was sinbinned for a rush of blood after his teammates had stolen the ball at a lineout. They survived the 10 minutes but then the Referee awarded a penalty try on 55 minutes that gave Pocklington the lead 10-7. Matt Piper replaced Seddon and Archie Rika Rayne replaced Thrower at hooker. Cleckheaton tried to attack from deep but were guilty of giving up penalties for holding on the ground. On 70 minutes, a Dale Breakwell kick to the wing meant for Mike Hayward was picked off by the winger who ran 70 metres to score under the posts giving the easy conversion and extended the lead to 17-7. A Cleckheaton attack towards the left corner looked promising but when the maul went to ground , Pocklington turned the ball over and cleared their line. With 5 minutes left , Pocklington added another penalty goal to make the game safe and they played out time to emerge winners 20-7. Niall Jackson got through a ton of work in the front row , both in attack and defence and deserved his M.o.M award.Richard Piper had a solid game at No.8 and Plunkett, Marsden and Seddon secured plenty of line out possession. In the backs Brambani and Hainsworth worked well while the wingers saw little ball due to the high winds.
Next week , Cleckheaton entertain Scarborough at Moorend, kick off is at 2:15, it should be a cracking encounter.