Harrogate Pythons concluded their league campaign with a thrilling 20-19 win away at Otliensians. ‘Gate started well as Max Sharp tapped back the ball from the kick off to gain ‘Gate early possession. The first threat came from ‘Gate with Guy Burroughs being bundled into touch 5 meters out. ‘Ensians won the line and cleared deep but full back Liam Clarke broke through the lazy chasers and linked with Liam Monaghan who again was forced into touch by the last defender. ‘Gate then gained quick possession following a thunderous charge by Marc Ford, and Rich Paterson broke through the centres to open ‘Gate’s account under the posts. 0-5. Max Sharp then somehow missed the conversion. ‘Ensians came storming pack and following a huge clearance kick and knock on, forced a scrum on the ‘Gate line. ‘Gate heaved ‘Ensians off their own ball to relieve the pressure. ‘Gate went down the other end and from a 5m scrum Nav broke from No8 and appeared to get the touchdown. However the ref ruled he was held up. Another sloppy knock on by ‘Gate then gave ‘Ensians good field possession and a superb cross kick from ‘Ensians fly half was gathered out wide by the winger who scored in the corner. The conversion was stroked over from the touchline 7-5. Coops then made a break from a quick penalty but found himself isolated. The ball went to the ‘Ensians fly half who put in another cross kick – this time the winger was blocked off by Binnsey, who was lucky not to receive a yellow card. From the penalty the ‘Ensians scrum half threw a lovely inside ball to a big runner who crashed over. This time the conversion was missed 12-5. ‘Gate came back and a flowing move, but the scoring pass to Max Sharp was too high and was dropped. HT 12-5.

‘Gate receive a rollocking at half time from coach David Flook and made a couple of changes. The ball was spun wide to winger Guy Burroughs who managed to step past his opposite number in no space at all. The beaten winger knocked over the touch judge in trying to catch Burroughs and the touch judge ruled Burroughs has put a foot in touch. ‘Gate now had ‘Ensians under considerable pressure, and a move down the backs was taken on by a lingering Jon Reah who crossed under the posts. Sharp added the conversion 12-12. ‘Gate then put more pressure on the ‘Ensians scrum, the ball squirmed out to Ratboy who broke and put his brother Zippy in with what appeared to be a forward pass. The ref was happy however and awarded the try. 12-17. ‘Gate then adventurously ran the ball in their own 25. Rich Paterson elected to kick, it was charged down and ‘Ensians centre went in under the posts. Conversion added 19-17. Coops who had been moved to flanker broke quickly from a scrum to charge down an ‘Ensians clearance kick. In the confusion that followed ‘Ensians conceded a penalty in front of the posts which Sharp converted. 19-20. The game then became increasingly fractious, as the ref obviously didn’t want the season to end and played an incredible 56 minutes in the 2nd half. ‘Gate managed to hang on without any more scares.

All in all it has been a good season for Harrogate, who ended up 4th in Yorkshire 4, and thanks are due to David Flook, the coach, for his unstinting dedication and commitment throughout the season.