HAVING had 16 players for their home fixture two weeks ago, Malton and Norton Ladies were disappointed to travel to close rivals Bridlington with only 14 players.

True to form though, the girls performance was inversely proportional to the number of players in the team, and they were unlucky to lose 15-10.

Despite being one down in the scrum, Malton never lost their own put in, and even put considerable pressure on the Bridlington pack.

The backs were on flying form, and took advantage of good, clean ball delivered from the line outs and the scrums to put some great moves together.

Crossing the line was proving difficult though, mainly due to Brid's extra player, and when Malton lost another player temporarily due to injury, Brid' used their overlap to add a second try to an earlier score, giving them a 10-0 lead at half-time.

Tracy Larvin caught the home side napping in the second half when she took a free-kick quickly and delivered a well-timed pass to Annabelle Peacock who drove over to score.

Brid were more prepared later on when Malton took a quick penalty close to the line, but good support meant the ball was available quickly for Natalie Etherington to score her first try of the season.

The referee did not help the game by unnecessarily sending two players to the sin-bin (one from each team), and Malton were unlucky to concede one try in the second half.

The team performance was excellent, but the man-of-the-match award went to Julie Pease who had an outstanding game at full-back, and Vicky Welham who put in a fabulous performance on the wing in her first full senior game.

Malton's next league game is at home against Carlisle on March 10.

WITH Harrogate intent on moving home, the Claro Roaders women's team is on a recruitment drive.

A come-and-join-us session on a supermarket car park in the town aroused interest among would-be players and captain Emma Cook hopes it will result in at least five new members being added to a squad which has been depleted by college absentees and long-term injuries.

She said: "The club reformed not much more than a year ago and now we need to attract more players. Moving home will mean better playing and training facilities and we hope it will encourage more girls to join us."

The women have four fixtures left this season and Cook said it would be a struggle to raise 15 players for each one.

She added: "Our new recruits are for next season when we hope to have a much increased squad. But we'll struggle through in the meantime."

Anyone interest should contact Cook on (07773) 795151 or turn up at Claro Road on a Monday or Wednesday evening when training sessions take place.

Updated: 10:47 Saturday, February 16, 2002