Sat 1 Sep 2018
Pocklington made a winning start to life back in division North 1 East, but they had to endure a couple of late anxious moments before sealing their 27-26 home victory.
Pocklington have seen a handful of players move on in the Summer, but their opening day lineup contained 11 of the side from the final game of last season plus a couple of newcomers in former Malton hooker James Thornton and ex-Ionians flanker Will Sayer. In front of a big crowd that included a Diogenes reunion and President's Ladies Day, Pocklington found themselves straightaway under pressure. They initially held firm but Bridlington's pack kept battering away until they muscled over for a ninth minute converted try.
Despite hard tackling flanker Owen Jackson being sent to the bin, Pocklington took over from the restart and they levelled matters on the quarter hour pressing hard through the pack before the ball came out to centre Josh Britton who cut back in to the posts, Christian Pollock converting for 7-7. And Pocklington looked nailed on to score again as they went straight back onto the offensive only to force a pass and give Bridlington a lifesaving interception, the seasiders running away from their own line then switching flanks to complete a breakaway score.
Pocklington resumed the attack and this time it was fly half Pollock that cut inside to score and convert after a couple of forward charges. Though Pocklington had the edge in the set pieces, Bridlington had some dangerous individuals that tested Pock on the break, and it continued to be end to end action as Bridlington moved upfield, held the position and eventually went over on the left. Again Pocklington responded emphatically, another strong raid broke down but Brid had been penalised for offside and Pollock reacted the sharpest to take a quick tap and cross for his second try for 19-19 at the break.
Pocklington made an emphatic start to the second half. They destroyed Bridlington at a scrum near halfway, marching them back 30 yards and when the ball went wide fullback Jonty Peters looked to have been wrapped up short of the line but stetched out an arm to plant the ball on the whitewash and Pocklington led for the first time.
For the next 20 minutes Pocklington pounded at the Bridlington line. Returning centre Joe Holbrough made an incisive break up the middle, No 8 Andy Little led a series of pack thrusts from five yard scrums, and Pocklington had half a dozen or more great opportunities to cross the line and put the game to bed.
But wrong options, dropped balls and forced passes saw all their chances come to naught apart from a straightforward Pollock penalty which crucially gave them a two score cushion at 27-19.
Again Pocklington should have closed the game out, but again they gave Brid a lifeline. Karl Durkin made numerous strong tackles but when one more was harshly judged a tip he went to the bin, only for Bridlington to put the resultant penalty kick wide. There was still time for Brid to pull it out of the fire, and eight minutes into stoppage time they wriggled over for a converted try to be just a point adrift.
There were second left and the game stayed on a knife edge. Pock conceded a penalty inside the Brid 22 to give the visitors one last lineout platform only for them to overthrow and finally let Pocklington claim the bonus point victory.
