Aireborough 2nd XV 25 – 12 Skipton 2nd XV

On their first trip on the road this season the Skipton side built on the promise of the previous week. Early heavy pressure brought no rewards and indeed Aireborough took an early lead with a converted try; it was imperative that Skipton scored next and stopped Aireborough building on their lead.

The first stage of this was heroic defence with a try saving tackle on the wing by captain Steve Marks followed by a bone juddering hit in midfield from centre partner James Wade. The stage was now set as Colonel Alex Farquhar and the immense John Grayston were too strong in the front row along with the evergreen Bob Binns at hooker with Ryan Binner and Frank Trueman playing second row. Skipton had in effect a back five who were relentless in the heat chasing and tackling and driving the home side into all out defence.

Ryan Binner was the first to breach the line for Skipton, followed soon after by Marks. Next up was Chris Wilkinson starting to show traces of his form of two seasons ago. Half time came and went and personnel were changed, Binns suffering an injury meant Trueman moving to hooker and Grayston was swapped for Ben Oldfield.  

The tide continued to overwhelm Aireborough and resulted in a well taken try for John Hughes, then following heavy pressure James Wade clearly scored under the posts in the view of everybody but the referee, although he did win a penalty from which the Colonel scored Skipton's final points. Aireborough finished off with a consolation try.

Positives to draw from the game were the continued integration of the young players not least Joe Porter playing his first senior game, tackling like a demon and unlucky not to score on debut. The back row of Callum Cameron, Ben Hall and Martin Murray look like putting a serious challenge to more established senior players and the whole club awaits Ryan Binner's 18th birthday so that he can play in his own front row position. The only downside continues to be the lack of a reliable kicker with a potential 13 points missed.