Barnsley 10 Yarnbury 12
Yarnbury maintained their Yorkshire Division Two promotion challenge with a hard-earned win at Shaw Lane.
Now they have to prepare themselves for another tough encounter at home to fellow challengers Bradford Salem at Brownberrie Lane.
Yarnbury again had to make several changes for the trip to South Yorkshire.
Stephen Riley pulled out at the last minute so winger Lee Mortimer moved to centre with Alex Clark coming in on the wing.
Russ Gomersall was in the second row for James Falgate as the Yarnbury pack came up against a Barnsley eight organised well be captain and No8 Dave Reed.
Yarnbury started well and scored on the right with ease. The forwards took the ball downfield with several drives before the ball was released to the backs who moved it out to winger Clark in space.
He assessed the situation and slipped an inside pass to speedy hooker Tom Gilcrist who scored under the posts without a hand being laid on him. Jarrod Huss converted for a 7-0 lead.
Recent injuries caught up with Yarnbury as winger Elis Gomersall had to be replaced by Dave Jones.
Stand-off Carl Paterson was also nursing an injury but put in some useful kicks to relieve the growing Barnsley pressure.
The Yarnbury backs were stifling the Barnsley moves and checking them in midfield which prevented them from building up any momentum.
A speculative kick for the corner from Barnsley stand-off Andrew Appleyard saw Huss apparently touchdown after a close race with Barnsley winger Joe Smith.
However, the referee Damian O’Hehir (West Yorkshire Society), gave the try and with Appleyard kicking a good conversion the scores were level.
Yarnbury didn’t let the score worry them and came back with another quick backs move.
Jason Avison saw a gap to slice through for a second time. Full back Huss hit an upright with the conversion .
Mortimer needed attention to a leg strain shortly after the restart whilst the Yarnbury forwards took the game to their counterparts and made good ground through their back row of Richard Longstaff, James Barrett and Jimmy Cryan.
Unfortunately their momentum was halted when they were penalised for going over the top at a ruck.
Minutes later Yarnbury spurned a possible penalty kick at goal in their hope of scoring a try. Their hopes were wrecked by a turnover.
From another penalty stand-off Appleyard brought the score to within two points and Barnsley sensed a possible win as the game changed.
The visitors were under pressure but they kept their composure.
Yarnbury never lost their composure and repelled the Barnsley attacks as the game got fractious.
The home side could not get the better of the aggressive Cryan and Longstaff who repeatedly frust-
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