Stocksbridge 6 Baildon 9

JJ O'CONNELL kicked the winning penalty as Baildon battled to a pulsating victory at Stocksbridge in Yorkshire Three.

Baildon began well, taking the first scrum against the head before stealing a couple of the hosts' early line-outs. That phase of play culminated in O'Connell taking a comedy drop-goal attempt that was no more than a daisy cutter.

Despite that, the Baildon game lacked fluency and they could not put the phases together, with loose passes and knock-ons bringing promising attacks to nothing.

Fortunately Baildon's work in progress, the set-piece, is beginning to show some promise and Stocksbridge often found themselves under pressure at scrum and line-out time. The front-row union of Adam Hewitt, Dale Tabiner and Joe Robinson had a particularly strong game.

Just when it looked like Baildon would not be able to turn pressure into points, Ryan Kershaw was tipped in the tackle in front of the posts. O'Connell slotted the penalty for a 3-0 lead.

Stocksbridge now decided they would come to the party and showed that they too were capable of strong running.

The Baildon defence held firm but gifted a penalty for a tackler failing to release, allowing Stocksbridge easy points to level the scores ahead of half-time.

Immediately after the break, the hosts were under pressure as Stocksbridge conceded a penalty for failing to roll away in the ruck – but O'Connell's kick bounced off the right-hand post.

However, Stocksbridge conceded a further kickable penalty for an offside at the ruck and this time O'Connell made no mistake to give Baildon a three-point advantage.

Stocksbridge accepted another soft penalty to level things up once again but the home side then missed another very kickable attempt.

With the match finely balanced, O'Connell began to exert composed game control, using the touchline and pinning the home side back up the pitch where any indiscipline would prove costly.

Sure enough, O'Connell soon had an attempt on goal as the hosts' tackle rode high and Baildon took a precious 9-6 lead.

O'Connell was to miss one more long-range kick but it mattered little as the visitors held on for the victory.

* WITH only nine fit players, Old Grovians took the decision to award their Yorkshire Two game to Wath upon Dearne and play a friendly to avoid any points deduction.

Another three players gained significant injuries last week, while a number of players are playing through with underlying problems.