Dinnington go down in scrappy defeat at Barnsley

Dinnington’s play was disjointed for much of the game in attack and their inability to put in solid tackles often had them chasing Barnsley in defence.

Dinnington had their fair share of possession but failed to make the most of it and, although they did a lot of hard running, it often came to nought.

Barnsley took the lead on 10 minutes with a penalty and held that lead for a quarter of an hour before Will Marshall broke off the back of a scrum and powered over for a try which Ryan Sorrell converted to put Dinnington 7-3 ahead.

Barnsley replied five minutes later with a penalty and then, after Dinnington had a player somewhat harshly sin-binned, took full advantage of missed tackles to score an unconverted try and go 13-7 ahead.

Despite being a man down Dinnington came back in the final minutes of the half and Marshall scored again, in similar fashion, to leave the visitors trailing by only one point at half time.

However, Barnsley took a grip of the game at the start of the second half.

A penalty two minutes in followed by an unconverted try five minutes later, again taking advantage of missed tackles, had the home side 21-12 ahead before Dinnington had a chance to put in an attack.

Just before the mid-point of the half, another try had the home side in a comfortable position which was made better when Dinnington had a second player binned for a show of petulance.

Being a man light, Dinnington lifted their game and gave themselves an outside chance of getting something out of the game when Richard White went on a jinking run to the line with 10 minutes to play.

However, they were unable to build from this and, with the last play of the game, Barnsley moved the ball along their backs to score in the corner.

Dinnington RUFC’s third team’s unbeaten start to the New Year came to an end as they were beaten 29-24 in the dying seconds of the game by Mosborough II.

Dinnington made the best possible start, scoring in the first minute, as Oliver Williamson reacted quickly at a penalty to charge through and score. Adam Hird converted.

For the next 20 minutes, though, Mosborough applied the pressure and when it finally told they claimed an unconverted try. Dinnington responded with some good back play but they had to wait until just before half-time before it came to fruition.

Dean McAulay burst through from close range to score by the posts and Hird’s conversion had the home side 14-5 ahead at the break.

Dinnington started the second half as they had done the first and scored within five minutes when a well-worked move in the backs put Dean Brunt in for a try.

Hird converted from out wide and with a lead of 21-5 it appeared Dinnington were on their way to victory.

However, Mosborough found a second wind and began to rattle the home side, forcing Dinnington to lose their composure and concede an unconverted try.

This minor blip seemed to have been dealt with as Dinnington put in some strong attacks, but they failed to convert any of them into points and it was Mosborough who scored again to cut the lead to six points.

Mosborough were playing with more passion and purpose but Dinnington appeared to have halted their momentum when Hird kicked a penalty only for the visitors to reply straight from the restart and put the core at 24-22.

Dinnington were again able to stifle Mosborough’s momentum and going into the last five minutes of the game appeared to have done enough to win the game.

However, in the dying seconds Mosborough put in one last effort to score a converted try and nick the game.