Dinnington moving clear of drop zone

Visitors Barnsley came into the match on a run of only one win in their last 10 league games but they started at a furious pace and should have taken an early lead as they put Dinnington under early pressure.

The Lodge Lane men were forced into conceding penalties as Barnsley pressed the home line but the visitors missed two penalty attempts in the opening two minutes, something that would prevail throughout the game.

It took Dinnington almost 10 minutes before they got the ball in hand but when they did they immediately broke upfield and, helped by penalties, kept the pressure on before a good passage of play between forwards and backs put Jonny West over by the posts and he added the conversion.

This was totally against the run of play.

Dinnington did not cover themselves in glory at the restart as they allowed Barnsley to run through some weak tackling to score by the posts but the visitors failed to level the scores as the conversion attempt missed its target

The importance of the game seemed to be having an effect on the players as both sides gave away penalties and struggled to keep their discipline.

West extended Dinnington’s lead with a penalty midway through the half and then the home side were given a boost when a Barnsley player was sent to the bin with 10 minutes of the half to go.

Dinnington enjoyed a long spell of pressure which resulted in a try for Danny Wilkinson as he got up quickly to charge down an attempted clearance kicked and only had to fall on the ball to score.

The men in blue then made a strong start to the second half and went further ahead with only three minutes played as West landed a penalty to open up an 18-5 lead.

The home side looked to ramp up the pressure but Barnsley were in no mood to capitulate and defended very well. Six minutes into the half, tempers flared and both sides had a player binned.

This seemed to affect Dinnington more than Barnsley and the visitors came back into the game scoring an unconverted try after ten mites of the half.

Dinnington thought they had restored their lead but Jordan Mee was bundled into touch in the act of scoring.

As the half progressed, Dinnington became more agitated at Barnsley’s refusal to give in.

The visitors, again, should have closed the gap but missed three kickable penalties in the space of three minutes around the mid-point of the half.

With five minutes to go, Dinnington had a player binned and Barnsley took full advantage as they put in a late surge.

With two minutes to go they scored their third try of the game but again it went unconverted.

In the final minute Dinnington could at last breathe easy as West landed a penalty and the home side were then able to play out the final moments of the game.

Tomorrow, Dinnington travel to Bridlington.