Roundhegians 7 - 3 Pocklington
The Panthers
showed great endeavour and commitment at Roundhegians and battled their way to
the brink of victory, but had their hopes dashed as the home side broke away to
snatch a last minute winner.
The Panthers fielded a depleted, inexperienced
side with an average age of under 20. And they faced a powerful Roundhegians team
that was well suited to the heavy conditions.
The result was that the Panthers
faced a rearguard action which saw them pinned in their own half and having to
defend against waves of home attacks. But the young Panthers side rose to the
occasion with a tremendous tackling stint led by forwards Steve Barton and Mike
Hodgson and centre Jack Holbrough.
Roundhegians could find no way through,
even when the Panthers were affected by injury in the second half and reduced
to 14 men. They reshuffled their bare resources with Tim Drew being pressed into
service as an emergency scrum half, and remarkably they drove upfield and took
the lead with a Drew penalty in the dying minutes.
All the Panthers had to
do was hang on, and they must have thought they had done enough as play entered
the last minute with them in possession and deep into Roundhegians territory.
But the last throw of the dice went against them as they were turned over and
Roundhegians slung the ball wide to break away for the winning score. Nevertheless
the Panthers can take considerable credit for such a plucky performance against
the odds.