The Pythons visited Beaver Park for their first meeting with Beverley this season. The Pythons were quickly behind 12-0 following 2 scores from the home team. Tim Evans carried the ball 60m earning The Pythons a penalty at the breakdown. Jed Carr drilled the ball into the corner. Pythons won their line out and began the drive towards the line. Harvey Ward whipped the ball to Carr who found Aaron Jones, on debut, to round his defender and score in the corner, 12-5.
Beverley took advantage of a spilled pass in mid field 17-5 and Carr shortened the deficit 17-8 after 15minutes. A period of intense play between the 10m lines but a missed tackle saw the home winger race into the corner 24-8. Beverley scored again to leave the score 31-8 at half time.
Pythons pressure through Will Milnes and Jack Hall charging through the middle gave debutant Henry Hazlem a last pass to his winger. A deliberate knock on earns the home side a yellow card. Ward spins the ball wide through Carr to Hazlem once again who, this time, has the ball stripped over the line. Beverley are quick to re group and cross the line twice more 45-8.
Milnes turns the ball over on half way and Ward feeds debutant Owen Fergusson charging through the middle. Quick ball to Carr who breaks for the line and feeds Hazlem who rounds his defender to score in the corner, 45-13. Beverley are quick to respond, 50-13. The Pythons finish strongly and pressure in the home 22 earns them a penalty. Quick ball from the ever alert Ward and Carr finds Sam Rowntree who strides in under the posts, Carr with the extras 50-20 full time.
After the game Coach John Liley said,” It was always going to be a difficult day for the Pythons visit to Beverley. Having accrued a victory and a draw against the same club last year, and having not recorded a victory so far this season, Beverley were always going to be a difficult team to beat on their own patch. Together with further changes to the Pythons team it was once again testing the strength in depth of the Pythons squad.
Luck was also on Beverley’s side as they were able to run in tries early in the game from simple unforced errors by the Pythons. Things just didn’t seem to go our way for much of the game, but it is testament to all 18 players that we stuck to the task and continued to play. Most teams would have thrown the towel in and crumbled, whereas the spirit of the Pythons players throughout the squad is tremendous, and it was the reason that we put ourselves in a position to push for a try bonus point. Unfortunately we ran out of time to achieve this but it demonstrates the Pythons have the determination and never say die attitude to remain positive to the end.
All 18 players gave there all but it just wasn’t to be today. Beverley capitalised on our mistakes and that enabled them to grow in confidence very quickly that made it difficult for us to then pose a threat of winning the game. Beverley always had enough of a lead to be comfortable for the majority of the game. Credit to the Pythons players for remaining positive to the end. This positive spirit will stand us in good stead throughout the season when we face other difficult fixtures”
The Pythons face league leaders North Ribblesdale at The Jim Saynor Ground on 12th October, kick off 3pm
