Malton and Norton held onto top position in Yorkshire One with a 28-13 victory at third-placed Huddersfield YMCA.

The hosts in the past have always proved a tough nut to crack at home and for much of the first half it seemed Malton were stuck in first gear, conceding too many penalties which helped Huddersfield take a 6-3 interval lead, Malton's points coming from Ian Cooke's boot.

A half-time wake-up call did the trick and Malton produced their best 20 minutes this season.

Two more penalties from Cooke gave his side the lead, while the restart after the second went straight into touch and, from the resultant scrum in midfield, fly-half Chris Creber fed centre Ryan Lonsdale to break through and go on a great run to the posts, Cooke converting.

Better was to follow. The forwards had control, particularly in open play, with Tony Reynolds instigating much of it, and Creber's distribution was perfect as his long miss-pass saw Tim Chapman and full-back Will Barber put Liam Cowton in at the corner for Malton's best try of the season. Cooke converted.

The Malton back row of David Cooke, Andy Mitchell and James McKay were in fine form and caused havoc. In this sort of mood Malton look invincible and, despite being outweighed in the tight, they secured their own srummage ball and took almost total control of the lineouts through Duncan Foster and Mitchell.

The third try arrived when, after a number of drives, the ball was spun out through several pairs of hands for hooker Steve Piercy to cross.

Huddersfield mounted a last-ditch effort and were held up twice over the line before getting their last-minute consolation converted try from a drive close to the line.

New arrival Liam Vaughan had a promising debut in the front row and the confidence which comes from winning is growing weekly.

Updated: 12:51 Monday, November 03, 2003