Candy League Division 1
PERCY PARK LIONS 13 – 7 BILLINGHAM LIONS
Percy Park Lions made it 3 wins in a row as they avenged an early season defeat away at Billingham. Park’s 2nd XV had the opportunity to play in front of a larger than normal crowd, as the 1st XV game was called off by Ilkley as they felt the pitch was frozen in places and too dangerous; (the game has been rescheduled for 24th January 2015). Both 2nd XV’s warmed up on the pitch and decided that the conditions were fine.
Percy Park opened the scoring with a penalty, kicked by Paul Spowart in an evenly matched contest. Surprisingly Billingham had the upper hand in the scrummages with a much larger front row, but they weren’t their usual threat in the back division, with several unforced errors accounting for a somewhat stop start game.
A fine individual try by fly half Phil Morse took Park further ahead and with the conversion the lead was 10 – 0. A further Spowart penalty gave the home side a 13 – 0 half time lead.
Several changes in the second period saw both Morse and Spowart replaced, leaving Park without a goal kicker so a couple of kickable penalty chances were spurned.
Billingham hit back with a converted try mid way through the second half, but Park held out for a narrow win and Billingham travelled back down the A19 with a losing bonus point.