Visitors Scarborough RUFC edged out by derby rivals Malton & Norton RUFC

Head Coach Matty Jones, who was making his 200th first team appearance for the club, started in the front row and watched his side dominate the early exchanges before taking the lead, writes Charlie Hopper.

Tom Harrison stepped up to kick the penalty for 3-0.

Both sides then had periods of pressure but it wasn’t until the 40th minute when hosts Malton & Norton went ahead for the first time in the game.

The scrum picked up momentum before Malton stalwart Paul Angus collected a pass and scored in the corner.

Flanker Sam Roderick was then shown a yellow card for a tackle after the try had been scored.

The conversion sailed wide to give the home team a slender 5-3 advantage at the interval.

The first action of the second half came in the form of a yellow card for Malton when winger Jacob Stephenson was penalised close to his own line.

Scarborough couldn’t make the advantage count and watched the deficit grow even further thanks to a converted try.

At 12-3 behind, the Silver Royd outfit began turning the screw and went within a converted try of their opponents after the experienced Harrison kicked his second penalty.

The fly-half was called into action just minutes later but watched his penalty drop agonisingly short of the posts to keep the score at 12-6.

In the final few minutes fourth-placed Malton extended their lead to 15-6 but were immediately on the back foot from the kick-off as Scarborough went in search of a loosing bonus point.

Deep into injury-time, Scarborough went over in the corner to score but the referee failed to see the grounding and blew for full-time.

Eleventh-placed Scarborough welcome 10th-placed Moortown to Silver Royd this coming weekend, with both sides in need of a big win to boost their fight against the drop.