Flawless Marauders
Moorends-Thorne Marauders 36 Cottingham Phoenix 8
HARD-WORKING Moorends-Thorne Marauders vanquished second placed Cottingham Phoenix with a fearless display at the Moorends recreation ground last Saturday.
Early divisional leaders Cottingham Phoenix needed a win to draw daylight between themselves and the rest of the chasing pack in the Yorkshire Premier Division, and with an early season 64-10 victory over the Marauders, the visitors were in a confident mood.
Moorends came out of the traps with all guns firing putting the visitors under continuous pressure throughout the game with a defensive display straight out of the top drawer.
The Marauders opened their scoring on five minutes when the home side moved the ball through four pairs of hands before Dave Knott crashed over in the corner.
The battle continued with the home side fired up and looking to settle the scores from their early season mauling; their effort was further rewarded after fearsome forward play by Craig Hookway, Gaz Everton, Kev Lake and Danny Hornsby brought the field position for Gav Millward to crash over on 15 minutes.
Cottingham were still in the fight and displayed why they are in a play-off place going into the second half of the season. Dale Allinson attacked and off-loaded to Rob Brown who went over in the corner on the 20-minute mark, 8-4.
Returning from injury, Cliffton Richardson was introduced and gave an example of why he is a crowd favourite on the Recreation ground, latching onto a long ball the illusive poacher ghosted through the visitors defence before winning the 40-metre foot race to the try line, Ryan Rafferty converted.
Moorends maintained their tempo in the blistering heat and Cottingham infringed at the play-the-ball on 30 minutes; the Marauders forwards set up field position for Shaun Carver to crash over from a set piece, Ryan Rafferty converted.
Four minutes later, the Marauders demonstrated that they were not just a team of muscle when they sent the ball through several quick hands for 16 year-old David Chowings to go over in the corner and take the score to 24-4 at half-time.
Moorends increased their lead on 45 minutes when their play-makers brought Cliffton Richardson bursting onto a lovely ball before crashing over with three defenders on his back, Ryan Rafferty converted.
Cottingham rolled up their sleeves and dug in as the game became a stop-start affair with charge and counter-charges of holding down creeping into the game. The Hull-based club made the best of their possession and managed to cross the whitewash again on 57 minutes when Steve Johnson collected a nice ball from Joe Hall.
Marauders are a very good attacking side and they hammered the last nail into the coffin on 75 minutes when outstanding loose-forward Craig Hookway produced the overlap before dummying himself over for a try, converted by Ryan Rafferty for 36-8.
Men of the match: The full 20 on the team sheet.
This weekend Marauders are at home again, against Scarborough Pirates, kick-off 2.30pm on Moorends Recreation ground, Grange Road. The Hull-based club made the best of their possession and managed to cross the whitewash again on 57 minutes when Steve Johnson collected a nice ball from Joe Hall.
Marauders are a very good attacking side and they hammered the last nail into the coffin on 75 minutes when outstanding loose-forward Craig Hookway produced the overlap before dummying himself over for a try, converted by Ryan Rafferty for 36-8.
Men of the match: The full 20 on the team sheet.
This weekend Marauders are at home again, against Scarborough Pirates, kick-off 2.30pm on Moorends Recreation ground, Grange Road.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Thorne
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
