Pontefract 10 Old Crossleyans 13

Pontefract 10 Old Crossleyans 13
With nearly a hundred ex-players in attendance at Moor Lane, the pressure was on the team to produce a good performance. They managed that with an excellent effort, in tricky conditions, against a Crocs side who are third in the league and enjoying an excellent season.
Pontefract were left to rue a slow start as Crocs came firing out of the blocks to score an unconverted try within three minutes. This shook Ponte into life and soon replied with a converted try from Craig Fawcett who followed up a grubber kick through from Liam Kaye to score under the posts. This try stemmed from excellent ball retention, from the forwards in particular, which, throughout the match, was as disciplined as this team has ever produced and just as importantly they showed the patience needed to suck the opposition in before putting on a play in the backs.
Pontefract then suffered a blow as returning back row Jack Beddis was given ten minutes in the bin for a clumsy high tackle. In reality it was a near straight red but there was no maliciousness in the challenge and he was given the benefit of the doubt. The referee was excellent in general, but Ponte felt Crocs got away with a few high tackles of their own.
Whilst Beddis was in the bin, Crocs regained the lead with a converted try as Ponte committed too many players to the break down close to their line leaving an easy score for the opposition flanker, peeling off the maul.
Trailing ten to seven at that point, Ponte did level up the score line before half time with a well taken penalty from Kaye. Ponte did have a great opportunity to put pressure on the Crocs line before half time but an old failing raised its head as a penalty was put into the corner and instead of a sensible catch and drive by the forwards the ball was spread out wide straight from the catch and the ball was lost twenty metres back.
In the second half Ponte played into the wind superbly and was by far the dominant team. Stephen Reynolds was immense at breaking the gain line, Tyler Smith drove the ball hard in all day and makeshift hooker Rob Scholey was at his industrious best. All the backs ran strongly and tackled hard with Andy Coleman and Richard Dedicoat standing out.
Crocs were thankful that with the wind behind they could easily clear their lines, as opposed to Ponte, who had to fight hard for every metre, with prop Josh Hough returning after a first half knock, causing havoc in the Crocs defence.
Just as a draw looked inevitable, Ponte gave away a penalty in a rare Crocs foray into the Ponte half. The kick was converted and Ponte were denied a well earned draw.
It was an absorbing, physical contest with the gathering of ex players very complimentary to the team. It was a highly successful day for the club with the bar takings through the roof, as old comrades from all generations, came together to try and remember the good old days. Well done to everyone involved, especially Vinny, Parky and Fletch.