Malton and Norton powered into the third round of the Yorkshire Shield with a 48-17 thumping of Bradford Salem at The Gannock.

From the outset Malton's game plan was to use their superior pace and fitness to keep the ball away from a more than competent Salem pack.

It proved to be an effective tactic as four tries came in the first half hour.

Following some powerful Malton drives by the pack an overlap was created on the left for Liam Cowton to score.

Some of the Malton support play was of the highest quality and Salem were in danger of being completely blown away as further tries came from skipper Chris Creber (2), Phil Ryan and Jon Newsome without reply. Ian Cooke added three conversions.

Although Salem had no answer to Malton's slick running game they did prove a threat when they were able to get possession and attack through their pack. They crossed the line twice only to be denied tries because the ball was not grounded.

On the third occasion Malton seemed to have recovered the situation on their own line only to see Salem scrum-half Matt Child be awarded a try. Full-back Andy Dalton converted.

For the second half, Malton introduced Tim Chapman and Ian Mansell and the former announced his presence as an attack along the left wing gave him the opportunity to dart over.

However, he was forced to leave the field shortly after with a head injury, sustained in a tackle.

Undaunted, Malton pressed on and Cooke added to the score with a mazy, swaying run through a baffled defence to touch down.

Next up was Creber's hat-trick try. Showing great skill he managed to wriggle through his would be-tacklers before sprinting over under the posts. Cooke added the conversion.

Salem gained some consolation from a Dalton penalty and a penalty try which came after a spell of pressure near the Malton line. A Malton player was deemed to have pulled down a maul and the referee had no hesitation in awarding a try under the posts.

This was probably Malton's most complete performance of the season and they can go into Saturday's important Yorkshire Three encounter at leaders Heath.

York RI withdrew from the competition because of a number of injuries to their squad giving Scarborough a walk-over.

Updated: 11:56 Monday, February 18, 2002