Elland ‘A’ 18 Silsden Park Rangers 20

Silsden Park Rangers made life hard for themselves but eventually managed to overcome bottom of the table Elland ‘A’.  Elland opened the scoring with a try near the corner post while Silsden were still settling in, but the Cobbydalers were quick to respond through an attack where they were able to keep the ball alive to put Steve Holmes in at the corner.  Silsden were the better of the two sides and were able to keep the Elland defence at bay with outstanding defensive efforts from man of the match Jon Gwilliam, Lee Shaw and Mark Adams.  Silsden were also able to make good inroads into the Elland lines through the forwards Tony Fella and Adams and Chris Iliff, however over enthusiasm led to too many ball handling errors and Silsden were unable to capitalise on their advantage.  A penalty was awarded to Silsden 10 yards from the home sides line for ball stealing, quick play from Matt Bowness took the ball right to the try line and Antony Smith was able to finish in style from the resulting play.  Silsden were on a roll and threatened the Elland line again as Steve Dent crossed the line only to have the try harshly disallowed for a double movement.  Just before the half time Elland came back and found a gap out wide to level the scores at 8 a piece.

After the interval Silsden continued to apply the pressure keeping the ball alive near the Elland line.  With the defence in disarray Chris Greenwood powered through to score under the posts.  The conversion from Andy Bowness extended Silsden’s lead.  Although Elland were tiring they were not about to give up.  From a Silsden scrum near the Silsden line Gwilliam was caught by the Elland scrum half resulting in a poor pass that was intercepted by Elland’s danger man Matthew Simpson who scored under the posts.  The conversion drew the scores level again.  Shortly afterwards Elland scored again in the corner after finding a gap out wide.  With only 10 minutes remaining Silsden were under pressure to pull back the lead.  Once again Silsden advanced towards the Elland line and a beautiful back pass from Neil Jordan went to Matt Bowness in support to cross the line.  Matt’s conversion of his own try edged Silsden 2 points ahead which was enough to seal the game.

Silsden will need to increase their game significantly next week as they travel to Crigglestone All Blacks.