Hosts Whitby Maroons edge past Barnard Castle in thriller

Castle made the best of the opening exchanges, missing an early penalty before the visitors crossed after period of pressure on the Whitby line to make the score 5-0, writes Bruce Reed.

Whitby came back strongly with strong, direct ball-carrying from the pack putting the smaller, faster visitors on the backfoot before lock forward Kai Dring barged over from 10 metres, with the conversion added by Stu Gregson to make the score 7-5.

The game swung back to Barnard Castle with the visitors scoring after a slick backs move to put them 12-7 up.

The pendulum then swung back in Whitby’s favour with a well-worked break away putting captain Gordon Bland over in the corner and Connor Clements’ quick thinking from a tap penalty making it 19-12 at half-time.

Whitby turned around and switched to a more conservative approach with Gregson kicking two penalties quickly to make the score 25-12.

Whitby’s dominance continued with stand-in scrum- half George Reeves sniping over from a quick pick and go to put Whitby ahead 30-12.

The hectic nature of the match continued with Castle crossing for quick tries to make the score 30-29 with a little over five minutes left.

Whitby maintained their composure and managed to see out the remainder of time for a well-deserved win.

Whitby now travel to Barnard Castle for the return fixture this weekend, which will no doubt be a hotly-contested match.

Match sponsor: Henderson Estate Agent.