Penalty try proves the difference

For the second successive week, Dinnington 1sts put themselves into a winning position in the Northern Division North One East, only to lose in the final minutes as they went down 20-17 at Huddersfield YMCA, claiming a losing bonus point.
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There was little to choose between the two sides for much of the game and the first 40 minutes saw chances at a premium.

Huddersfield took the lead with a penalty before defences came to the fore. Dinnington came close to scoring after ten minutes, but a kick through went dead.

The home side twice missed long-range penalty attempts, but from the second Dinnington failed to clear properly and Huddersfield attacked from a lineout to score in the corner and extend their lead to 8-0.

Huddersfield should have gone further head straight from the restart, but knocked on over the line.

Dinnington made an excellent start to the second half as they kicked the ball deep into Huddersfield’s half, forcing a knock-on and a scrum.

From the set play, Michael Leitch picked up from the back and set up Neil Francis for a try in the corner.

For the next 15 minutes the visitors created the better chances but could not finish them off. Just before the mid-point of the half they came close to scoring when they were stopped short of the line.

Huddersfield cleared the danger, but from the next lineout a break by Jonny West got behind the home defence and Ryan Donnelly scored in the corner to put Dinnington into the lead.

A Huddersfield player was sent to the bin and Dinnington quickly went further ahead when they moved a catch and drive close to the line before shipping the ball to Matt Shaw, who scored in the corner.

West converted to put Dinnington more than one score ahead and seemingly on course for victory.

However, 10 minutes from time Huddersfield kicked across the field and a winger beat everyone to the ball to score.

A quickly-taken penalty put Dinnington on the defensive and, as Huddersfield kept on the pressure, the referee awarded the hosts a penalty try with three minutes remaining.

In the final minute, with a player in the sin bin, Dinnington had an outside chance of levelling, but chose to kick for the corner instead of the posts.

They won the lineout and drove close to the line, before spreading the ball wide.

The visitors then tried a kick through, but the home defence got to the ball first to seal victory.

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