Sporting puns were designed for games like this, which truly was a game of two halves. The first half saw York playing with the wind scoring five converted tries to lead 35-0 at half time. Some of the tries coming from fortuitous bounces and some excellent defending by Neil Gilbertson prevented further tries. Malton’s pack exerted excellent pressure on their counterparts but whenever Yorks backs were released they always looked lively with their standoff Matthew Boyle, despite having piled on a few pounds within recent years, controlling all operations  like a modern day Napoleon.Malton did have their moments with the best move coming from young Tom Barrett on the wing following good inter passing between centres Simon Massey and Rob Clabby.

This unfortunately was one of the few incursions Malton had into York territory.The second half was however a completely different story with Malton making a few changes, Tim Casey replacing Chris Boothman in the back row, Mike Martin for David MacDowell at hooker and Ben Boothman taking over from father Matthew in the front row.The backs were also rejuvenated with the introduction of Ronnie Alexander and Pete Wooley. Maltons intentions were clear they had to claw back a 35 point deficit and David Webster at standoff ,benefiting from the slick service of the ever improving Ashley Clarke, hoisted some deep kicks into York Territory and with Maltons scrum continuing to exert increasing pressure thanks to the tireless efforts of second row John Lumley and Skipper Rob Hicks together with the back row of Sean Emms and Jim Davies with Tim Casey controlling operations from number eight.

After only a few minutes Mike Marton took a ball against the head in the scrum and Clarke fed Webster a lightening quick pass, Webster skipped inside his opposite number, showed the ball to Alexander and ran through unopposed to open Maltons account. Within minutes of the restart Malton were back in the York 22, thanks to some sharp running and interplay between Alexander and Wooley, the forwards took the ball on with prop Adam Wright charging forward feeding Man of The Match John Lumley who took out three York players before setting up the ball for Clarke through to Webster to Alexander through to Clabby who cut inside two men to feed the magnificent Sean Emms as ever in tireless support who went over for his first and most deserved try of the season and the game was on.

York gained a penalty in the Malton half and took the safe option of kicking the three points realising that Malton were certainly up and at ‘em. Matt and Johnny Cliffe entered the proceedings and from Maltons scrum Webster hoisted the ball high and wide to the far corner and somehow Cliffe managed to make a salmon like leap to pluck the ball one handed into his grasp to land for a most impressive try, this following the now famous tap tackle of his brother Jonny (the Pub Landlord – good food at the Blacksmiths Arms – Westow).

Malton still had some fire in the belly with SkipperRob Hicks leading by example setting up some good ball with Neal Gilbertson putting in some vintage performances at full back with some amazing running from which Malton narrowly failed to drive over for a fourth try, York found themselves having a second penalty and took the safe option to extend their lead to 41 points to Maltons 19.Malton made a final throw of the dice bringing on Eddie Everson and Pat Stephenson to add more power to the pack but it was too late.Full credit has to be given to Malton. The first half saw a much changed line up on the previous week and once the players started to gel and had the benefit of a strong wind in their favour the points started to flow and full appreciation has to be given to the York second string who certainly edged the contest with their lively backs and added to the try feast for the largest crowd of the season.