Match Report Sat 17th Nov Marist V's Halifax Vandals

Published on Tuesday 20 November 2012 08:14

Marist 7 Halifax Vandals 16

Vandals picked up a crucial first away win in Yorkshire Four - a result which maintained their push for a place in the top four.

The injury picked up by Ash Edmondson last week meant the Vandals were light in the front row, something that the big

Marist pack capitalised on as their No8 powered over for a converted try.

Vandals found themselves defending on their own line a number of times in the first half and what looked like another try for Marist was disallowed with clever tackling from Drew Drake and Jim Crowther holding the ball up over the line.

Both teams found themselves down to 14 men after Dan Murgatroyd and Marist full back were handed yellow cards.

It wasn’t long into the second half when Craig Sim found a gap through the defence and started the comeback. Sim managed to find Paul Jowett who managed to gain yards despite having a few defenders on his back. Jowett crashed over the line and a well struck conversion by Jim Crowther levelled the scores at 7-7.

Vandals again found themselves down to 14 men when Tom Crowther was sin-binned for a high tackle, but the visitors kept the pressure on and when Marist gave away three penalties in quick succession Jim Crowther stepped up to give the Vandals a 16-7 lead.

With minutes left infringment at the ruck gave mMrist a penalty under the posts and with the last kick of the game they looked sure to get a losing bonus only for the ball to hit the upright and came back into play.

Pouncing on the loose ball the Marist hooker looked destined to score, but another huge defensive effort saw the ball held up over the line.