Ilkley 15, Blaydon 21
Ilkley 15 Blaydon 21
Blaydon racked up another win on the road which despite the closeness of the final score was a comfortable enough victory in which they led by 3 tries to nil until the final minutes.
In difficult conditions on a sodden pitch at Stacks Field Blaydon were much the more decisive and although the home side huffed and puffed with plenty of possession they could make little progress against an excellent defence.
Winger Jack Appleton applied the final touch to a smart handling move to get the ball rolling and Jamie Guy was on target with the conversion. Ilkley fly-half Charles Ramsay pulled back 3 points for his side with a simple penalty in front of the posts but by the interval some intense pressure from the Blaydon forwards involving much re-cycling resulted in a try for skipper Keith Laughlin with Guy again adding the extras.
Leading 3-14 at the break Blaydon continued to press and were rewarded with a 3rd score when Matt Jenkinson went over after umpteen phases of possession. Guy landed his 3rd conversion but that was to be the end of Blaydon’s scoring, with possession being lost too easily there-after and a number of opportunities wasted.
And as Blaydon sat back with a comfortable lead the home side were allowed to come more into it in the final quarter and grabbed a try through their winger Rick Talatio. Their deficit was now 8-21 and in the final play of the game another 7 points were secured when lock-forward Ben Waddington crossed in the corner and Ramsay put over the conversion.
John Brennan
