Crocs leave it late, but keep on winning in Yorkshire One

As in the previous away fixture at Pontefract, an Ed Cockroft penalty as the game entered stoppage time sealed the win after an entertaining match between the teams in third and fourth placed teams.

Crocs held a narrow 13-12 lead at the interval but trailed for most of the second half until the late drama.

Crocs made just one change to their starting fifteen with Josh Hunt returning to the left wing berth and Jack Pilcher taking a place on the bench after being unavailable due to work commitments in recent weeks.

Crocs made a clear statement of intent at the first scrum. Beverley had the feed but were pushed off it, unceremoniously, and conceded a penalty. Crocs eventually knocked on but the resultant scrum saw the same result; Beverley retreating at a rate of knots and the awarding of a further penalty which Ed Cockroft landed to give Crocs a 3-0 lead after five minutes.

Beverley took the lead after 10 minutes when Isaac Keighley was driven over the line to give the hosts a 5-3 lead.

Midway through the half Billy Hammond bulldozed his way through the midfield and the pack surged downfield with some eye catching, finely executed pick and drives into the Beverley ‘22’. Crocs were awarded a penalty and, not surprisingly, took the scrum option from five metres out. Again, they got the forward momentum but, rather than driving over the line, the ball was released and a flowing back line move resulted in Matthew Beswick diving over in the right hand corner. The conversion was missed but Crocs had a narrow 8-5 lead.

Playing with confidence, Ed Cockroft sniped down the blind side before finding Josh Hunt in support, but scrambling defence bundled him into touch five metres short of the try line.

On the half hour, Beverley put in a grubber kick in the Crocs’ ‘22’ and Jacob Holmes was the beneficiary, scooping up the ball and running in unopposed to the try line with Phil Duboulay’s conversion stretching the Beverley lead out to 12-8.

Crocs came storming back with a well worked try, Cam Brannan and Chris Vine finishing a move to set up Josh Hunt to squeeze in at the corner. The conversion was missed but Crocs led 13-12 five minutes before the interval.

It was an inauspicious start to the second half when Crocs had a man yellow carded for dissent in the opening minutes. Beverley retook the lead when Crocs had a further player sent to the sin bin for an illegal tackle. With the numerical advantage, Beverley set up a driving maul and Isaac Keighley powered his way over the line with Duboulay’s simple conversion easing the lead out to 19-13.

Crocs dug in and denied Beverley any further scoring opportunities until they were returned to a full complement of players. They then went on the attack and Beverley were penalised and had a player yellow carded at the same time. On this occasion the ball was kept in the scrum before Ed Cockroft picked up and plunged over the line. The conversion was missed but the deficit had been reduced to a single point with 15 minutes to play.

With five minutes to play Crocs missed another chance to retake the lead with a further penalty kick. The possibility of a win was looking increasingly elusive when a flowing back line move was knocked on short of the try line, but the referee had been playing an advantage and brought play back for a penalty.

As the game entered stoppage time Ed Cockroft lined up the ball on the tee. A clean connection and the crowd held their collective breath as the ball hit the upright before falling over the crossbar to give Crocs a 21-19 lead.