West Hartlepool still lead despite tight defeat Driffield

Despite having 75 per cent of the possession at Kelleythorpe, the Brinkburn side could not get the points points on the board which their pressure deserved and eventually fell to two sucker punches.

With Pocklington winning to draw level on points, West are now only on top by virtue of the fact they have lost less games than their rivals.

And with eight regular players unavailable for various reasons West finished the game with three 17-year-olds in the pack. But that wasn’t a factor according to Head Coach Iain Dixon.

“The young lads did really well and despite having so many changes we dominated in everything but points scoring,” he said.

“We needed to be more patient and more clinical. Instead our inability to score kept Driffield in the game and they took their chance.”

That came with just one minute left on the clock. West had increased their own lead to 13-7 just minutes earlier when Carl Miller finished off a forwards drive with the conversion attempt agonizingly bouncing back off a post.

From the restart, referee Dave Downham penalised West 40 metres out, but that quickly became 30 meters for backchat form the visitors – not for the first time in the game.

The ball was pumped into the corner, and with Driffiield committing backs into the maul, hooker Paul Brumfield managed to touch down with Will Brigham slotting the conversion to give his side the one-point lead.

West attacked strongly up the left from the restart. Rob Thorn caused panic in the home ranks resulting in one of the defenders throwing the ball into touch.

Referee Downham awarded the penalty five meters wide on the left in front of a baying crowd on the balcony of the Driffield clubhouse.

Gavin Painter had struggled with his goalkicking the day, but bravely opted for an attempt on goal instead of looking for a line-out in the corner.

With the catcalls from the clubhouse showing no signs of being silenced his effort had the distance. However, it drifted across the face of the posts to give the home side a win that hadn’t looked likely for 78 minutes of the game.

West had started brightly with Sam Miller taking a Driffield line-out close to their line but his powerful burst ended when he was bundled into touch at the flag.

Gavin Painter then had the chance to get some early points on the board with a penalty kick just to the right of the posts but his effort was wide.

West kept up the pressure with Driffield defending desperately at times and giving away a number of penalties.

However they scored a simple try with only their second foray into West territory.

It came on 20 minutes when the ball was passed through the backs and with the West defence flatfooted winger Joe Robinson passed back inside for centre Gary Stephenson to gallop home under the posts.

West continued top have the lion’s share of the play but a combination of stout defence and mistakes meant they had to be content with a penalty from Painter just before the break.

Driffield had lost scrum half Craig Gray to the sin-bin with Mr Downham losing patience in the number of penalties being conceded.

Playing up the slope West continued to dominate territory in the second half and eventually the pressure paid.

Eldon Myers was the scorer after the pack forced the defence back on the left with quick ball along the backs creating the space out wide for the West centre.

Zac Southern had replaced Painter at fly half and his kick was just wide but his side were finally in front.

With just a few minutes on the clock it looked like Carl Miller’s try would be enough to win the game but the six point margin was to prove to be not enough.

Driffield: Sam Furbank, Joe Robinson, Gary Stephenson, Sam Moore, Lester Bell, Will Brigham, Craig Gray, Felix Nellon, Guy Brumfield, Paul Dervey (capt), Olly Cooper, Harrison Dodds, George Mewburn, Rob Mewburn, Will Burns.

Reps (all used): Fran Pavchenko, Mark Blenkinsop, Olly Borman.

Tries: Stephenson, Brumfield.

Conversion: Brigham (2) Yellow: Gray

West: Zac Southern, Luke Mallinson, Eldon Myers, Peter Youll, Rob Thorn, Gavin Painter, Ryan Painter, Tim Blades, Ross Wood, Michael Hogan, John Bunter, Jake Linighan, Carl Miller, Dan Boatman (capt), Sam Miller.

Reps (all Used) Greg Edwards, Jordan Foulds, Adam Brown.

Tries: Myers, C Miller. Pens: G Painter (1)

Referee: Dave Downham (Yorkshire)