The blue and golds will rue not converting pressure into points in this clash as they lost 26-12 to Wigan St Judes.
There seemed little to choose between the two sides in terms of ability, except the visitors took advantage of every error that the home side made.
All 4 of St Jude’s tries were the result of an error. This combined with scrambling well in defence proved to be the deciding factors in the game.
Beverley got off to a flying start as quick hands inside their own half sent Will Wallis sprinting away to score. Josh Poskitt converting.
They continued to seek more points and the strong running Alex Calvert got a clever offload to Bobby Howdle who was unlucky to be held up over the line. The ball continued to given plenty of air-perhaps a little too much. in the 11th minute, the ball was intercepted by Gavin Rodden who raced away to score with extras added from Danny Fallon. Very soon after, an awkwardly bouncing kick failed to be dealt with and Connor Parkinson pounced to put St Judes in front. Fallon added the conversion.
There was more pressure in the remainder of the half by Beverley which was well defended and Danny Fallon added a penalty goal to extend the visitors lead to 14-6 at the break.
The second half continued to see more attacking by the home side. Both Lewis and Josh Poskitt were on the wrong end of high tackles which seemed to have the effect of slowing the game down at crucial points for the visitors. In the 57th minute, Beverley’s finally made their pressure tell, as Alex Calvert charged over to score. Lewis Straw this time converted to reduce the arrears to 12-14.
In one of many pivotal second-half moments, the re-start kick bounced into touch and resulting attacking set for the visitors saw winger Lewis Melling cross converted by Fallon. A few minutes later, Beverley’s man of the match, Billy Riby looked to hit back. He beat a number of defenders on a run to the line which saw him pulled up inches short. St Judes strayed offside which seemed like a professional foul which had the desired effect of slowing the game down.
There were more forays by the home side as the minutes ticked down. Lewis Straw charged down a kick broke away only to find Lewis Poskitt who was chased down.
With 7 minutes to go the game saw more controversy. Alex Calvert on another bustling run got an offload to Lewis Poskitt who appeared to touch down. The referee ruled that Poskitt had bounced the ball and initially sin-binned and then dismissed Poskitt following his strong protestations.
In the closing minutes, Lewis Melling intercepted for St Judes to score converted by Fallon to seal the points for the Lancastrians.
