Hullensians 35 points v Acklam 25 points

Acklam looked to be heading for a heavy defeat at Hullensians, but refused to lie down and staged a very good late comeback , scoring 3 further times in the last 10 minutes to earn a 4 try bonus point in a 35 - 25 loss.
Acklam pressed initially but in the 3rd minute Hullensians broke away and only a good last ditch tackle by Acklam full back Dean Roberts preventing the home winger from scoring. Then after 9 minutes Hullensians went through a number of phases from a scrum to score under the posts and take a 7 nil lead . Acklam came straight back and following a good kick return by Roberts number 8 Tom Grinstead broke strongly from a ruck to score and reduce the arrears to 7 - 5. Acklam continued to press from the restart and on 17 minutes earned a penalty, which Danny Ashton kicked for a 7 - 8 lead.
This seemed to sting the home team into action and 10 minutes later a driving maul from a line out brought a try and restored their lead at 14 - 8. Acklam came back with some good rugby and winger Albert Bengo was twice denied by desperate cover defence. Unfortunately right on half time Hullensians winger got clear and then passed inside to create a further try and stretch Hullensians ' lead to 21 -- 8 at the break.
Things got worse for Acklam shortly into the 2nd half when the home side broke from the back of a scrum and took advantage of a missed tackle to score a converted bonus point try and make it 28 - 8. Acklam fought hard to reduce the deficit but were penalised at a couple of breakdowns. Then Acklam were again unable to cope with Hullensians picking up at the base of the scrum and conceded yet another try. With the score now at 35 - 8 a heavy defeat was looking imminent for Acklam. However, to their great credit they refused to give up and going into the last 10 minutes a good break by Ashton put centre Marcus Sudron in for a try. This score inspired Acklam and they launched wave after wave of attacks against the tiring home side, scoring again when good play put Roberts over in the corner with a couple of minutes to play. Acklam ran the ball again straight from the restart and worked an overlap for Bengo who ran well before putting supporting back row Andy Dalton in for a fine 4th try. This made the final score 35 - 25 in an entertaining match where Acklam again showed their fighting spirit. There were a number of good performances by Acklam players, with Dean Roberts named as their man of the match.