Dewsbury Moor return to winning ways with hard-fought away success at Stanley

James Eatherley was among the Dewsbury Moor try scorers.

The Maroons fielded a near full strength team with James Delaney, Archie Bruce and Pete Robinson the noticeable absentees but they welcomed back AJ Boardman, Ashley Boddy, Luke Adamson and James Samme after recent injury lay offs.

Moor played down the considerable slope at Stanley in the first half and had the early ascendency.

The Maroons eventually made their way down the slope and an explosive run from James Eatherley saw him beat numerous defenders to score between the posts, with Jacob Flathers converting.

Stanley replied with a spell of pressure in the Moor ‘20 but couldn’t find a way through a solid defence.

Stanley kicked on the last tackle but the ball was fumbled and Toby Richardson scooped it up and galloped 80 metres unopposed to race between the posts, Flathers again converted and Moor led 12-0.

Just before half-time Brad Foster, covering as stand-in hooker, produced a great dummy 10 metres out to create space for the supporting Oli Ayers to crash over.

Flathers added his third conversion as the Maroons extended their interval lead to 18-0.

Stanley responded with a sustained spell of pressure at the start of the second half as the home side’s big pack gained momentum down the hill.

A kick was collected by Moor full-back Jordan Foster, who attempted to return the ball from in front of his own posts only to have it stolen one on one tackle, which gifted Stanley a simple converted try.

It was a slight blemish on what has been a faultless solid season so far for the full-back.

Stanley had renewed confidence and piled on the pressure down the slope.

They finally broke the Moor defence on the right to score next to the posts and a successful conversion reduced the arrears to 18-12 with 20 minutes remaining.

Moor’s pack got to grips with the marauding Stanley forwards and started to get the upper hand forcing play back up the slope. A spell of sustained pressure 30 metres from the Stanley line ended when the visitors were awarded a penalty, which Aiden Ineson successfully kicked to give them an eight-point lead going into the final 10 minutes.

Moor produced another swift attack on the left and Cameron Bruce opened up the Stanley defence with a neat pass to Ineson, who dummied and went 25 metres to score in the corner.

The conversion was missed on the final whistle but Moor had clinched a fine away win.

Man-of-the-match was James Eatherley, with strong performances across the park.

Moor coach Allan Samme stated: “I’m happy as it was a very hard earned two points, on a small sloping pitch against a big physical pack.

“It wasn’t pretty at times but we dug in and ground out a result and the two points was more important than how we got them. The lads showed great perseverance and guts.”

Moor travel to local rivals Shaw Cross in the Heavy Woollen Cup quarter-final tomorrow (Friday). Kick off 7.30pm.