Last gasp try breaks Dinnington hearts

North Ribblesdale 26

AN interception try, four minutes from time, denied Dinnington what would have been a well-earned victory.

A trip to Ribblesdale is always difficult, for any team, with most people putting it down as a home banker on their coupon.

However, Dinnington went into the game in confident mood, boosted by their recent form and the fact that they won the corresponding fixture last season.

Dinnington started strongly and took the lead after 10 minutes when they stole the ball at a home scrum and quickly moved it wide for James Marsden to score. Jonny West added the conversion.

They kept the pressure on and scored again 10 minutes later when the forwards drove a maul over the line, John Marshall claiming the touch down.

West’s conversion attempt came back off the upright, and following the restart there was a melee between the forwards as Ribblesdale showed their frustration and it seemed to have fired the home side up.

They landed a penalty, a drop goal and another penalty in the next 10 minutes to cut Dinnington’s lead to three points.

Dinnington were annoyed with themselves for giving away these easy points, as they had been able to cancel out any threats to their line that the home side had presented.

Just before the break West landed a penalty to give Dinnington a 15-9 lead at half-time.

Dinnington started the second half determined to consolidate their lead as quickly as possible.

They missed a penalty early on but almost immediately quick passing set up Tyle Stimpson to cut through the home defence to score a try converted by Chris Williams.

Thirteen points clear and seemingly in control, Dinnington then began giving away penalties.

They had a player sent to the bin and almost straight away Ribblesdale were scoring a try as their scrum-half picked up at the base of a scrum five metres out.

Dinnington were able to hold out for another quarter of an hour but under pressure from the home scrum they gave away a penalty try with 15 minutes to go to have their lead cut to one point.

Ribblesdale were fortunate to be this close as Dinnington had been the better side for most of the game and the visitors began to gain the upper hand again.

Two penalty attempts just missed the target as the visitors looked the more likely to score next.

In the last minute of normal time Dinnington were pressing on the home 22 but the Ribblesdale stand-off anticipated a pass, intercepted and ran the length of the field to score a converted try.

There was still time for Dinnington to respond but they could not open up the home defence and had to settle for a losing bonus point.

On Saturday Dinnington take on unbeaten divisional leaders Huddersfield YMCA at home.