This was a last minute heart-breaker for the blue and golds. The game hinged on the awarding of a penalty to the visitors in the dying minutes of the game.
Lewis Poskitt attempted to steal the ball in a one on one tackle but did not hear the referee call held so was penalised for interference.
It was a somewhat harsh penalty which was right in front of the posts and was duly converted by the visitors. Only a minute earlier Poskitt had struck what he thought might have been the winning drop-goal.
The game had been a terrific contest between two local rivals who kept the big crowd on the edge of their seats for the whole game. There was some resolute defending from both sides as no quarter was given in a very physical but fair encounter.
Scott Taylor commented;
“I know the players are gutted about this, but they will learn from it and we as coaches will learn from it too.”
This game had a real edge to it as it had been spiced up by the Knights acrimonious departure from the Hull & District League and some controversial comments in the rugby league media. Two years ago, Beverley had encountered similar acrimony when also switching to the RFL ran Yorkshire Men’s League. The game turned out to be a superb advert for the Yorkshire Men’s League.
The opening 20 minutes could not have gone any better for the home side as they attempted to blow the YML new boys away. In the 7th-minute Lewis, Poskitt danced his way through a scrambling Knights defence to touch down under the posts. Straw converted.
Then in the 12th minute Poskitt chipped ahead for the man of the match Ben Naylor to score. Straw again added the extras. The visitors began to settle down and exert some pressure. They got over the line once but were held up.
Joe Chambers finally got the scoreboard ticking for the visitors with a try in the 27th minute. Moments later Josh Poskitt calmed the host’s jitters with a penalty goal to stretch the lead to 14-4.
However, Chris Armstrong got over for the visitors close to half time to narrow the lead to 14-8 as the conversion attempt was again missed. The first half had around 5 minutes of stoppage time as a number of players were treated for knocks.
The second half was quite simply one long arm-wrestle with the visitors dominating possession, territory and penalty count. Full back Ben Naylor deputizing for the injured Billy Riby was called upon time and time again to field bombs and kicks into the in-goal area. In attack, Jack Howdle looked to be the biggest gainer of ground. Beverley’s ventured into the Knights 20 meter zone on only a few occasions. They defended repeat set after repeat set and at one stage, it looked as if they would hang on. It took until the 75th minute for them to crack. Chris Armstrong scored his second try for the Knights which was converted to level the scores at 14-14.
Poskitt appeared to have pulled Beverley out of the fire. The hosts regained possession from the re-start kick and 3 tackles later he stroked over the drop-goal under extreme pressure from the Knights defenders. There was to be a final twist as the Knights also regained possession from the restart kick which then saw the awarding of the crucial penalty.
Beverley ARLC will look to put the disappointment behind them; they entertain Doncaster Toll Bar this Saturday at The Potting Shed kicking off at 2.30pm in the next 40/20 cup game.
Beverley must now realistically win both of their two remaining group games to qualify for the semi-finals.
Final Score : Beverley ARLC 15 North Hull Knights 16 | Reported by Nick Robinson
