Final flourish fails

Dinnington 17

Ilkley 39

DINNINGTON’S hopes of finishing their season with a flourish ended disappointingly with defeat at home to Ilkley.

Both sides started the gamely strongly and either could have taken an early lead.

With six minutes played a good run from David Longstaffe was halted close to the line and three minutes later Ilkley made a break only to knock the ball on as it became promising.

Dinnington worked hard to get good field position and were stopped just short as they drove for the line.

Moments later Longstaffe was stopped short of the line which saw an Ilkley player sent to the bin.

Dinnington took advantage of this and with 15 minutes played John Marshall went over for a try following a lineout.

Chris Williams added the conversion. More good work by the home side was spoiled when they knocked on in a good position.

Ilkley came back into the game with some good positional kicking and had Dinnington defending near their own line.

The visitors kept up the pressure and 15 minutes from half-time they drove a maul over the line for an unconverted try.

There was then a brief period of tactical kicking from both sides before Dinnington put more pressure on and they should have done better with a move but knocked on within touching distance of the line allowing Ilkley to clear.

They were soon back on the attack but a loose pass inside the visitor’s 22 allowed Ilkley to counter attack and score in the corner with five minutes of the half left.

Dinnington finished the half strongly with their forwards getting on top. On the stroke of half-time Williams kicked a penalty to leave an entertaining game all square at 10-10 at the break.

Dinnington made a bright start to the second half but could not threaten the visitor’s line.

Four minutes into the half Ilkley went ahead when they moved the ball quickly and set up a driving maul to claim a converted try.

Dinnington came straight back and were camped in the Ilkley 22 for a long period.

The pressure paid off as Ian Spink scored in the corner and Williams converted to level the scores.

The game was still in the balance but a minute after Dinnington had had a player sent to the bin Ilkley were back in the lead moving the ball quickly across the full width of the pitch to score in the corner.

The hosts continued to work hard to get themselves into points scoring positions but, as has been their Achilles heel this season, they failed to convert and then gave away points too easily.

With 10 minutes to go they conceded two tries in three minutes to put themselves out of the game.

To their credit they rallied playing some open rugby moving the ball through several pairs of hands and were unlucky not to claim a try when they were stopped just short.

In the final minutes, Ilkley worked play close to the home line and scored again on the stroke of full-time.

This brought to an end a difficult three seasons for Dinnington in Yorkshire One and although they go into Yorkshire Two in confident mood of an immediate return, that aspiration could be easier said than done.