WHEATLEY HILLS 17 – 26 PERCY PARK

Park were hoping for three important wins on Saturday, but as the Meat Loaf song goes 2 outta 3 aint bad.If an 82nd minute Lions penalty had gone over, that’s exactly what they would have achieved,as the 1^st XV move back to the promotion play-off spot with a great away win over Wheatley Hills. But sadly the Lions lost in the final of the Northumberland 2^nd XV Cup 24 – 23 although the Penguins, Park’s Vth team won the Northumberland No5 Cup against Rockcliff Rangers 47 – 17.

The 1^st XV took the long journey to Doncaster to play second placed Wheatley Hills who are the only side to have beaten Park at home this season. The away form has been somewhat patchy, but a superb display particularly by the pack earned the Preston Avenue side a bonus point win. Park made a couple of changes in the pack with Jack Davidson sitting out recovering from a nasty facial injury, and Michael Langlands being unavailable due to work commitments. This meant Sean Williamson came back into the back row and James Ponton stepped into the lock position.

Percy Park opened the scoring with 7 minutes gone as Greg Dixon went over after good work by the forwards. Simon Greatham was off target with the conversion. Park stunned Hills with a second try 10 minutes later as fly half Ash Smith cut through the Wheatley defence after a nice dummy put him through a gap in the defence, to score under the posts. This time Greatham made good the extras and Park led 12 – 0.

PERCY PARK 45 – 12 CLECKHEATON

Despite the one sided score-line this game was very close with an hour gone, and at that stage the visitors were still very much in contention. Cleckheaton travelled to Preston Avenue with several late changes to the side, whereas Park started the game as originally selected with Ash Smith coming in at fly half, which meant a re-shuffle in the backs with Ali Blair moving to centre, Dave Griffiths to full back, and the welcome return of Liam Blackburn on the right wing.

There wasn’t much to inspire either set of supporters in the first half as both teams cancelled each other out with solid defence apart from a lapse in concentration on 15 minutes which saw Cleck cross the line with a well worked try from a line out, which cancelled out Simon Greatham’s earlier penalty for Park on 7 minutes.

A miss-directed clearance kick by Griffiths saw the ball go out on the full outside the home 22 and play was brought back for a line out. Quick ball off the top, gave the Cleckheaton back line space to run at the Park mid field and a breakthrough and wide pass on the left saw full back Ross Haydn in for the unconverted try.

Greatham put Park back in front on 20 minutes, before Park stretched the lead further after lock Craig Fidler charged down a clearance kick and retrieved the bouncing ball to cross the line near the left hand touch. The half time score was 11 – 5.

In the second half Simon Greatham was off target with a penalty before making amends with a kick in front of the posts after Cleckheaton had been penalised for crossing whilst running the ball out of their own 22.

Ash Smith looked lively at times, and burst through a gap in the visitor’s defences and raced for the line. The cover defence did their job but the offload found Howard Stock who went over for the try and with the conversion Park started to take control of the game.

Park had the upper hand once again in the scrum as they have against most sides in the league this season, but the leaner and fitter Park forwards were prominent in the loose. Good interplay between backs and forwards saw Percy Park go through phase after phase of play, but a sloppy offload saw Craig Blackburn pick up a loose ball and the left wing raced half the length of the pitch to score under the posts for the Yorkshiremen with the conversion from Iain Gordon, to make the score 21 – 12 with 12 minutes remaining.

SHEFFIELD 19 – 10 PERCY PARK

Park’s patchy form on the road re-surfaced as they went down 19 – 10 to Sheffield at Abbeydale, starting with the same line up that ground out a solid win at home to Malton & Norton.

The home side opened the scoring with a Donal Collins penalty after only 2 minutes which was cancelled out by a Simon Greetham penalty 4 minutes later. Greetham could have put Park in the lead soon after but his long range effort was pulled left of the uprights.

The visitors had several chances to cross the Sheffield try line, but for last ditch tackling by the Yorkshiremen. Ali Blair cut through several defenders and with the line beckoning was tap tackled from behind and stopped metres short, as was Michael Langlands a few minutes later.

Just before the half time break Collins kicked his side in front for a 6 -3 lead.

In the second half Simon Greetham had the chance to level the scores from long range but his kick went wide. Neither side had the upper hand in the game although the Park back line looked the more likely to score from open play. When Park were penalised for coming into the ruck from the side, some back chat cost a further 10 metres and Donal Collins made no mistake with his penalty kick to go 9-3 up.

Percy Park reshuffled the back line with Ash Smith moving from fullback to fly half, Kai Downey-Stephenson came into the centre and Dave Griffiths went to full back. Park were awarded a penalty on the Sheffield 5 metre line, and what followed could only be described as surreal. Despite calls from the coaches to opt for the scrum, and area in which Park were well in control, Dave Griffiths stepped up to kick to the corner. His lethargic punt into touch, five metre out and the same distance from the touch line was kicked straight into the hands of an advancing Sheffield player who had not retreated behind the goal line. He then sped off up the pitch to everyone’s amazement and from a great attacking position Park found themselves defending in their own half.

PERCY PARK 32 – 22 MALTON & NORTON

Simon Greatham’s kicking earned him Man of the Match and was the difference between the two sides, scoring 22 of Park’s 32 point haul. The game at Preston Avenue was every bit as close as the game earlier in the season at Malton & Norton which Percy Park won by 3 points by virtue of a last minute missed penalty by Teei Piawi. Indeed the scores were level at 22 – 22 up as late as the 77^th minute, when Greatham kicked his sixth penalty of the game to nudge Park in front.

Park made just one change to their starting line up with George Purdy coming in to the front row for the unavailable Joe Wafer. Aaron Smith, Shaun Williamson and Johnny Ward all returned to the squad on the bench after good spells with the Lions.