There must be something in the air at Darlington that disagrees with the Dalesmen, writes Trevor Graveson.

On the opening league Saturday Ribb travelled to nearby Mowden Park and came away on the wrong end of a 40-point score and unfortunately the process was repeated at the weekend.

On reflection though the Settle side will probably find Saturday's result the more difficult one to handle for although the final scoreline was decisive enough they had adequate scoring chances to contest the outcome.

However a frequent flaw this season has been poor finishing and that problem was evident again together with an alarming number of missed tackles. Put these two factors together and success is unlikely to follow, particularly in away league games.

All had started so well for Ribb. Inside the first couple of minutes some excellent handling resulted in Evans scoring under the posts with Hughes converting. Then shortly after a searing Gemmell break should have led to a second try, but Evans was taken out off the ball while in support and a cut head resulted in him having a brief spell off the field.

But Ribb continued to have the upper hand, although they were dismayed to be penalised after winning scrum ball and getting a good shunt on towards the home line. Immediately Darlington broke out well, catching the Dalesmen completely off guard with a length of the field counter-attack which was finished with a score by a pacey right winger.

Back came Ribb and Towns put Coultherd away only for the centre to be held close to the line, and then a powerful run by Evans should have brought a try for Gemmell but the pass went one way and the support run the other!

In between times Hughes was off target with two kickable penalties and in total Ribb had squandered the potential points that would have won the game.

Darlington were not so profligate, scoring again after an attack down the right and then adding a penalty to bring a half-time score of 13-7.

In the second half Ribb's pack started brightly and bursts from Moore and Carr took play to the home line, but that pressure was held and there was no reward for the Dalesmen. Successive penalties took play to Ribb's line and they failed to defend when Darlington refused an easy kick for three points, preferring to saunter over through non-existent defence under the posts and accept seven. That score seemed to break Ribb and too many heads dropped, so it was no great surprise when another seven points registered on the scoresheet a few minutes later.

With a score of 27-7 a comeback was perhaps a little difficult to envisage but it became impossible when the home side got the better of two decisions by a rather eccentric referee.

The first incident was most unfortunate. Ribb attacked down the left and Gemmell put Evans away outside the cover and past the fullback and it looked like a glorious try, but play came back for what could only be described as a very minor scuffle. The referee did not see fit to penalise anyone and he restarted play with a scrum with a Ribb put-in which all seemed very mysterious.

And a couple of minutes later the Dalesmen produced another good attack and Bullock got over in the left hand corner only for the final pass to be ruled forward.

Suitably disheartened Ribb conceded two further converted tries and a game which had begun brilliantly and subsequently offered many opportunities finally resulted in a heavy defeat.

Hopefully the side will put this result behind them and they will certainly be best advised to do so, for Keighley visit Grove Park this Saturday and it is doubtful whether there will be time for peaceful reflection.

end

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