Dalesmen so close to glory

9:45pm Wednesday 30th April 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

Doncaster 24, Wharfedale 17

Wharfedale battled manfully in tonight's Corries Solicitors Yorkshire Cup final at a sodden Claro Road, Harrogate.

They led Doncaster 17-0 but ultimately succumbed to the south Yorkshire side's forward power, three of their tries being pushovers and another a penalty try.

The Dalesmen capitalised on a string of first-half penalties to bag tries from second row Dave Lister, scrum half James Doherty and winger Mark Bedworth, who converted one but should have added another.

Doncaster crucially got a penalty try just before the interval, fly half Cerith Rees converting, and they had the penalties and the momentum in the second half, Tom Luke, Lynn Griffiths and Luke Gross getting tries and Rees adding a conversion.

However, a crucial moment came in the 66th minute when Greens replacement Simon Horsfall caught a cross-kick but opted to cut inside and was held up over the line when going for the corner seemed a better option.

Even so they didn't fall behind until the 74th minute.