Ovenden beaten in county final

Ovenden's hopes of winning the Yorkshire Cup for the first time were dashed by a dominant Lock Lane side yesterday.
Rugby league - Illingworth v Siddal. Don Booth for Siddal.Rugby league - Illingworth v Siddal. Don Booth for Siddal.
Rugby league - Illingworth v Siddal. Don Booth for Siddal.

The Castleford team won 31-10 against the Four Fields outfit at Featherstone RLFC.

Lane took a 12-0 lead and although the Pennine League Championship favourites scored an unconverted try, the Halifax side were 18-4 down at the break.

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A Lock Lane six-pointer was followed by a converted try to Ovenden to make it 24-10, but another converted try and a drop goal sealed the fate of the Jake Connor-coached side.

There was more Calderdale disappointment in the under 14 final with favourites Siddal losing 8-4 to Stanningley Rangers.

Honours finished even in the Pennine League Championship derby between Illingworth and Siddal at Mason Green.

A penalty in the closing minutes enabled Illingworth to snatch a 20-20 draw after they had let a handy lead slip.

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Illingworth scored first, only to fall behind to Matty Prest’s try converted by Rourke Wolley.

The hosts surged into a 16-6 lead and although Brody Graham got the visitors’ second try, Illingworth scored again after a minute of the second half.

Siddal surged into the lead with three tries in 17 minutes from Arron Metcalf, Danny Rushworth and Prest’s second but their failure to add any of the conversions left the door open for Illingworth to salvage a draw.

The other Calderdale amateur rugby league side in action yesterday were Brighouse Rangers, who lost 38-14 at Sharlston Rovers in the Championship.

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Under-strength Rangers were not disgraced on a glue pot of a pitch.

Rangers’ quick play the ball and accurate passing help them race into a 10-0 lead.

First giant prop Sam Moon bludgeoned over the line out wide, after great work from Karl Frankland, then Joe Campbell crossed on the other side of the field after a mistake by the Sharlston full back from a shrewd Jamie Barraclough grubber.

At this stage, Sharlston’s big forwards were flexing their muscles, but with little reward as Rangers’ smaller team matched them with aggressive gang tackling and scrambling defence.

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Half-backs Drennan and Ambler were spraying the ball wide, causing the hosts all kinds of problems.

A dropped ball from Brighouse gave Sharlston the field position they needed, their crafty hooker sending a big forward over for a try.

All the momentum was now with the hosts, who opened a 16-10 lead before Rangers clawed four points back with a cracking try in the corner from centre Ambler.

Rangers opened the second half brightly, but couldn’t score. Ultimately the lack of interchanges - Brighouse only had two replacements - enabled Sharlston to score several tries in the last quarter.