Dinnington rooted to foot of the table

Dinnington gave it their all against a Pontefract side who had only won one of their last six games but came up short against a very quick set of backs.

They remain rooted to the bottom of the table, twelve points from safety.

Dinnington made a strong start to the game with the elements at their backs and came close to scoring in the opening five minutes only to be penalised three times just short of the line.

With ten minutes played Pontefract showed the threat of their backs as they moved the ball wide creating the opening score with a converted try.

Dinnington came straight back but although the forwards battered away at the visitor’s defence they could never find the last telling pass or hung on to the ball a second too long.

Just before the mid point of the half their profligacy was punished as Pontefract ran in a length of the field try.

Again the forwards came back putting pressure on Pontefract and their good work was rewarded when John Marshall burst through the middle and set up John Stimpson for a run to the posts for a try converted by Chris Williams.

Two minutes later Dinnington closed the gap further when they forced a penalty converted by Williams.

Pontefract had spent little time in Dinnington’s half, and then that only came about when Dinnington lost the ball on attack, but the home side had to react quickly a couple of times to stop Pontefract stretching their lead.

Two minutes from half time Dinnington went ahead when Ryan Donnelly popped the ball to Sam Kirk who scored a try converted by Williams and they held a 17-12 lead at the break, only the third time they had led at half time this season.

Confident going into the second half, Dinnington made a promising start but within ten minutes the game had got away from them.

With five minutes played Pontefract broke off the back of a scrum and then drove the resulting maul over the line for a converted try and two minutes later their backs stretched Dinnington’s defence to score again to put the score at 26-17.

Dinnington came straight back and it only seemed a matter of time before they would score as Pontefract struggled to get out of their own half.

However, once again, errors crept in and the game was virtually lost when ten minutes from the end Pontefract scored another length of the field try.

This did not deter Dinnington who were unlucky not to score, being stopped short three times, but as the game went into the last minutes they started to attack with lone runners which were easily dealt with by the visitors.

With the last play of the game Pontefract scored another converted try to put an unrealistic slant on the score line. In the end Pontefract’s backs proved to be the difference between the two sides.

Tomorrow, Dinnington are at home again this time against Scarborough. Kick off 3 pm.

Dinnington have been informed that they will have to replay their game against Bridlington after the East coast club were penalised five points for not fielding a front row replacement at Dinnington in January.