Moortown 16 vs 23 Barnsley

A good away win for Barnsley, largely inspired by Dave Reed’s determination, Paddy Jensen’s immaculate goalkicking and a dogged defence that would not let Moortown through. Barnsley began the game with a brand new pair of centres, Smith and Taylor, following the withdrawal of both Gaunt and Jeffels through illness and injury. Robinson returned to the back row, and a debut for Haynes began on the bench.
For the first five minutes of the game, Barnsley pack hammered at the Moortown line without making a breakthrough apart from Jensen’s first penalty. Time and again Barnsley were their own worst enemies, failing to move the ball at pace so that their runners did not have the space needed to convert. Gradually, the home team grew in confidence, as their forwards levelled the battle,, and they missed a penalty before converting a second one to level the scores. Quick thinking deep in Barnsley’s 22 gave the home side the first try, well converted from wide out.
Robinson gave way to Haynes, with a pack re-arranged to accommodate the newcomer into the second row, with Watt moving back. There was desperate defence by the visitors as Moortown pressed their apparent advantage, and frankly had their backs spun the ball out wide, the would have widened the gap. As it was, their insistence on stepping inside gave the Barnsley defence time to tackle, which they did almost without fail.
It was Barnsley’s hardworking captain, Dave Reed who levelled the scores, when he stepped to his left, beat a tackle and plunged over the line to give Jensen a simple conversion. Colbridge then broke away only to be tackled by the last defender and soon after the same player cleared Barnsley lines with a good defensive kick. All square at half time, 10-10.
Some scrappy play in midfield typified the game, with Barnsley forwards on top and Moortown backs looking thre4atening in possession. Penalties were exchanged, but then a mad impulse of thoughtless play at a penalty gave Moortown the lead, when the referee had no choice but to convert a free kick to a full penalty. Apart from the glare from his bright yellow jersey, the referee ran the game calmly and quietly, and his decisions were clear, even though the home crowd began to voice its exasperation. Barnsley were not helping themselves, winning possession in defence and then kicking it back to Moortown and it seemed that the home team must score. Defence prevailed apart from a second exchange of penalties which made the score 16 all, with a quarter hour to go.
Finally, Barnsley woke up from their lethargy, and forgot their bad handling and weak passing to put real pressure on the home side. Jordan Wood again crashed over to give Jensen a conversion and Barnsley a 7 point lead they never gave up, despite the undoubted efforts of Moortown. In a game soon forgotten, Watt played powerfully, Robinson tackled his heart out, and overall, the visiting team deserved the spoils not least because the home team could not break the Barnsley defence. Even so, there is much to be done at Shaw Lane, to turn what is a great fighting spirit into a unit that understands the need to keep possession and how to finish its attacks with scores. When that happens, the opposition can look out.