Baildon 21, Harrogate Pythons 25
BAILDON forced five penalties in as many minutes up the hill in this SSE Yorkshire Division Three clash but had left it too late in another display where they pressed the self-destruct button.
Normally slow starters, the hosts tore into their opponents, kicking two early penalties and, as conditions worsened, debutant No 8 Matt Deakin scored a try from the back of a scrum.
Although home errors then crept in, allowing Pythons a try, fly half Oli Waddington dummied his way through the visitors' defence for a try to make it 16-8 at half-time.
With Baildon now playing up the slope, the match descended into a series of attritional scrums but Pythons established a slight advantage when the hosts made substitutions.
However, it needed a controversial decision by the referee to help the visitors, Baildon feeling that three of their defenders were obstructed on the way to Pythons scoring a try that brought them back into the match at 16-13 down.
A visiting centre then scored a try that was converted and added another try in the 70th minute but Baildon did not benefit from a Python being shown a yellow card as the home side mounted that late comeback, which included a try.
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