Strong Thornhill Trojans side unable to claim Yorkshire Men's League win at Normanton
With no game for the Thornhill Trojans first team they fielded a strong 'A' side for their game at Normanton Knights in the Yorkshire Men's League, but were unable to come back with victory.
The Knights used their physical size close to the Thornhill try line to claim a 20-12 victory and also made better use of the headwind.
Man of the match for the Trojans was stand-off Bailey Lee and it was his pass that prized open the Normanton defence to lead to the opening try as he sent Rye Ward sprinting clear to go over for an unconverted try.
However, this score was soon cancelled out when Normanton worked the ball along the attacking line. The move was well executed and finished with Luke Richardson squeezing over in the corner for an unconverted try.
Quick thinking from the Knights close to the try line then caught Thornhill out, Nathan Thirling picking up the ball from acting-half and nipping over for a converted try.
At half-time the Trojans were confident that they could still turn things round, but injuries began to take their toll. Jordan Ward, Sam Ratcliffe and Mikey Greensmith all had to leave the field and this disrupted the side’s play.
But when James Sheldon held off his tacklers to force his way over for an unconverted try in the corner, Thornhill were still looking good for a comeback as Normanton's hold on the game was now down to only two points.
Thornhill's Oli Boocock, however, was shown a yellow card by the referee for questioning his decisions. It was at this point that Normanton used their extra man advantage with Jordan Ratcliffe ploughing over the try line for a converted score.
Tempers boiled over and the referee defused the situation by sending Normanton's Devon Lucas to the sin-bin. Despite this the home side once again caught Thornhill out on their own try line. This time Jordan Ratcliffe scooted over from acting-half to score an unconverted try.
Despite their poor try line defence, the Trojans battled to the end and from a scrum the ball was flung out wide to find Callam Gamble. The full-back ran around the outside of the Normanton defence to plant the ball down for an unconverted try.