A youthful Selby side produced a display of energy, enthusiasm and determination to claim a well deserved and very welcome victory over Old Crossleyans who arrived at Sandhill Lane full of confidence having got their new year off to a winning start by defeating Scarborough the week before.

In blustery conditions, it was refreshing to see both teams show a willingness to play with ball in hand, though the gusty wind understandably took a little while to adapt to, with passes drifting off line and line out throws a bit of a lottery in the opening exchanges. It was Selby who looked most likely to break the stalemate when after 9 minutes a promising break by James Bramley was stopped only by a dangerous tackle by visiting Number 8, George Banham who might consider him-self fortunate not to have been shown a red card but instead sent for 10 minutes in the “sin bin”. After a solid scrum on the Crossleyans 22 Selby eventually got the reward they deserved when fly half Henry Wright engineered a try for centre James Bramley. As the Crossleyans defence rushed the Selby three quarters a perfectly judged kick bounced kindly for Bramley who gathered just 5 metres from the line and crashed over for the opening score. Wright’s conversion gave Selby a 7 point lead with 13 minutes played, however the lead was cut just minutes later when Selby were penalised and visiting stand off Joe Gallagher converted from in front of the posts.

With Banham’s return to the field, Crossleyans were able to put further pressure on the Selby defence, forcing a second kickable penalty after 29 minutes, but the unpredictable wind helped push the ball wide of the uprights and Selby were able to maintain their slender advantage. With both sides defending stoutly, a lot of the play for the majority of the half took place between the 22s and another promising Selby move was halted after 37 minutes when the referee spotted a couple of players engaged in a tussle on the floor. Having decided to yellow card Selby skipper Ashley Parkinson and the Crossleyans prop Sam Ives, the referee also awarded a penalty to the visitors despite Selby having been in possession and mounting a threatening attack.

Crossleyans opted to kick for the corner and having secured possession drew another penalty when Sean Campbell misjudged his tackle and was rightly yellow carded for his high shot. With 7 forwards against 6, the visitors again opted to kick to the corner and having taken a clean catch eventually drove the remains of Selby’s forwards over their own line for a try claimed by Navneet Sembi. Gallagher was unable to convert with the last kick of the half but Crossleyans went into the break with a single point advantage.

The second half was just 4 minutes old when Selby had the chance to regain the lead, but Wright’s well struck penalty veered at the last moment in the wind, hitting the post and allowing the visitors to touch down and claim the 22 drop out. Within a matter of minutes Crossleyans were penalised again and this time Wright judged his kick to perfection to give his side a 10 points to 8 lead. As Selby grew in confidence, Crossleyans started to struggle to contain them as the home forwards began to further dominate the set piece and the backs started to show positive intent. 52 minutes had elapsed when livewire scrum half Archie Bennett really brought the crowd to life with an excellent individual try. From another solid scrum on half way Bennett drifted wide and exchanged passes with his fly half before darting down the touchline, evading a number of would be defenders before crossing wide out on the right. Although Wright was unable to convert, the lead was at 7 points which meant that Crossleyans would need to score at least twice to claim the win.

However Selby were in no mood to give up what they had battled so hard for and as Crossleyans threw everything at the home defence, the Selby youngsters proved more than a match, repeatedly repelling drives round the side of the contact area and forcing the visitors onto the back foot, eventually drawing an error which allowed them to turn over possession. When Wright drove the ball down into the Crossleyans 22 Selby were awarded the throw at the line out, courtesy of the new 50/22 law and it was from this position that Selby finally sealed the victory. Having forced a 5 metre scrum on the hour mark, the Selby eight showed fantastic technique in the set, driving the much bigger Crossleyans pack back over their own line at a rate of knots with Ben Lodge having the easiest of jobs to claim the try. Wright’s conversion barely got above crossbar height but somehow managed to hit the target, much to the delight of the Selby faithful.

It is to Crossleyans’ great credit that they continued to battle to the final whistle but there was to be no way through or round the stifling Selby defence who repeatedly penned the visitors in their own 22 until they were left with little option but to kick the ball downfield to relieve the pressure. With no further scores in the final quarter of the match the whole Selby squad were treated to a well deserved and noisy reception when the referee eventually blew for full time.

Next week sees Selby in another crucial match when they travel to East Yorkshire to face Pocklington, knowing that another victory will go some way to easing pressure whilst knowing that defeat will see them well and truly drawn into a battle for survival in Regional League 2.