In there first pre season game of the year the second team made the short trip to Illingworth, hoping for a win. They welcomed back Gary Smith & drafted youngsters Ryan Kershaw, Bradley Ellis & Ben Barron in to the squad.

Stand in Captain Aaron Priestley lost the toss & Illingworth decided to receive the ball, Micky Wormald got proceedings under way with a deep kick into the opponents half, forwards Gary Smith, Warren Pitman & captain Aaron Priestley were putting in some great tackles and every tackle was made successfully with no errors and with them being stuck in there own half the home team decided to kick hoist the ball deep into Wyke territory and from the kick return full back Ben Barron broke after producing a excellent hand off. Fellow youngster Bradley Ellis took the following run in and ran straight over a sorry Illingworth player, it was followed by a Sam Kittsen scoot and on the fourth the ball was worked out to stand off Ash Hutchinson who stepped back inside and dummied to glide over un touched, beneath the sticks. Second row forward Micky Wormald dually tagged on the extras and Wyke led 6-0 inside the first minute. From the restart Sam Kittsen collected the ball with ease and fed the on-rushing Gary Smith who made a bulldozing run knocking a defender over on his way however he was halted by four defenders. Hooker matty harrison then saw a gap and went for it, only to recieve a penalty. Aaron Priestley took the first run in and when he seemed to be going nowhere he got a great offload away to Gary Smith who set up great position and from the resulting play the ball matty harrison dummied his way over, again beneath the sticks, Micky Wormald again converted with ease 12-0. From the restart Illingworth again found Sam Kittsen who put on a '9' ball with centre Paul Bapty who beat a poor effort to break, second row forward Kieran Helliwell then took the next drive in and with Illingworth struggling to keep up with play he gained a penalty. From the resulting penalty left-centre Jordan Longbottom made good yards, followed by another Gary Smith run then when hooker matty harrison looked to have run out of space he gave a great two ball out to loose forward Aaron Priestley who threw a miraculous dummy to go in at the corner. Micky Wormald made a great touch line conversion to maintain his 100% record with the boot. With forward Gary Smith needing a break coach Daniel Barraclough brought other forward Andy Naylor on and from the restart he took the bouncing ball and made some decent yards. Stand off Ash Hutchinson then gave a great inside ball to forward Warren Pitman enabling him to make a break and he found the supporting Aaron Priestley but he was dragged down ten metres short and it came to nothing. Illingworth then broke down the blind side and when they looked certain to score Ash Hutchinson made a great chase back to stop them also making them spill the ball. Wyke made some good yards from the restart and on the 5th Sam Kittsen put the bomb up and Illingworth failed to take it in, Ash Hutchinson broke and found the supporting Warren Pitman, only for him to drop the ball with the line beckoning. A good five minutes later Wyke regained possession inside their own ten and Aaron Priestley dummied from the base of the scrum and ran a good fifty yards before been dragged down, the forwards and back somehow managed to work the ball to the other side of the field and Sam Kittsen gave a great cut out ball to young wing man Bradley Ellis who beat the full back to gallop in under the sticks, Wormald easily converted and with that the half came to a close.

HALF TIME: Illingworth 'A' 0-24 Wyke 'A'.

Illingworth got the game back underway but in the second half the game was much more evenly contested and with both packs trying to get the better of each other the game turned into a massive arm wrestle with both sides trading drive for drive and tackle for tackle. Then about a quarter of the way into the second half Wyke forwards matty harrison, Warren Pitman, Aaron Priestley, Adam France & young Ryan Kershaw started to make the bigger impact going forward and in defence! Illingworth took consecutive drives in and as matty harrison went in for the tackle he got a knee to the head and was forced off, forcing the coach to make some tactical changes such as putting forward Sean Kelly in at hooker and other forward Ryan Kershaw in at scrum half. Illingworth then kicked deep and from the return young full back Ben Barron went the length of the field for the try of the game, he sprinted past the first defender, span out of the seconds grasp and beat the rest of chasing defenders at what seemed like half pace, he went over just at the side of the sticks and the tiring Sam Kittsen put the conversion attempt just wide. 28-0. After his spectacular try he was gifted a well earned break and following that Kyle Staunton was put back on the wing and Bradley Ellis slotted in at full back. Then with some great help from the referee Illingworth placed a consolation score on the board, with him allowing them to continue play despite two clear knock ons, they then worked it to there scrum half who fed the on rushing forward allowing him to cross despite some great defence over the line from Sean Kelly who seemed to have ripped the ball 1 on 1 but the referee deemed it to be a 2 on 1 and rewarded a penalty try, they converted but the final word belonged to Wyke who scored another great try via some good pairs of hands. Tony Godfrey took a settler in and from the play the ball Jordan Longbottom found Ryan Kershaw who then found Warren Pitman who made some good yards before offloading to centre Keiran Helliwell who drew the wingman and gave the the ball to Kyle Staunton who then stepped inside the fullback to fall over the line. Micky Wormald added another outstanding touch line conversion and that made the score 34-6. The final whistle blew soon after leaving that as the final score.

FULL TIME: Illingworth 'A' 6-34 Wyke 'A'.

Match Report by Aidan Holmes, 13.