A very young and enthusiastic Hessle side were no match for Malton and Norton, who showed in their 50-14 win that they have developed a killer instinct to go with the undoubted ability throughout the side.

Too often in the past Malton have gone through the motions in similar circumstances to either only just win or throw away golden opportunities.

There was none of that on display as from the first whistle they set about demolishing Hessle with some powerful forward play allied to sensible and forthright threequarter play.

With props Tom Eddy and Carl Rushworth to the fore, the pack soon gained the upper hand and, with scrum-half Jon Newsome revelling in the quality of possession, Hessle were under constant pressure as Malton mounted attack after attack.

The Hessle defence was solid but the frequency and ferocity of the Malton challenge was too much to handle and after ten minutes Malt opened the scoring when Rushworth finished off a series of forward drives with a try close in which was converted by Ian Cooke.

From that point on Malton went from strength to strength and, apart from a rare lapse in concentration when Hessle fashioned a good score of their own, tries came at regular intervals from Cooke, Eddy, David Webster and Ian Mansell to give the visitors a 31-7 interval lead.

Normal service was resumed in the second half despite stout resistance from the home side. Skipper Chris Creber, having arrived back from The Dubai Sevens earlier the same day, and Richard John used their combined guile and skill to keep Malton on the offensive for long periods.

They were ably supported by fellow threequarter Matt 'Mr Reliable' Richmond and some delightful rugby was the result. Much as in the first half, tries came at regular intervals, with Cooke and Mansell adding to their tally, while there was also a first of the season for substitute prop Steve Riddolls, who managed to force his way over to touch down on the line.

Hessle again managed a consolation try but by that time the game was won and the points were in the bag.

There were many good performances on the day but unsung heroes Steve Hayhurst and Phil Ryan got through a tremendous amount of work during the afternoon to set up the win.

With some difficult games ahead, Malton are now starting to show that they can take a game by the scruff of the neck, and have now developed a much harder attitude towards the winning of games such as this whereas in the past they have tended to appear lethargic on the lesser occasions.

Updated: 12:10 Monday, November 12, 2001