UNCHARTED territory held no fears for Malton and Norton, who made their first visit to Gateshead a triumphant one with a 24-13 win in Durham/Northumberland 1.
Within the first five minutes they created havoc, centre Tim Carney bursting through from 30 metres out to score beneath the posts for Ian Cooke to add the conversion.
Expertly marshalled by fly-half Chris Creber, the Malton side were playing at a tremendous pace and bamboozling the Gateshead defences.
A quick switch of play from a series of rucks paid off when hooker Carl Muscroft scored from close in.
Malton dominated in all departments and a further series of raids climaxed when No 8 Richard Webster took the direct route towards the line before passing to centre Liam Cowton who scuttled over in the corner.
Gateshead then woke up and on their first visit to Malton's half were awarded a penalty when a visiting player was caught offside at a ruck. More soon followed when tricky centre Andy Grey was allowed to step through a number of half-hearted tackles before racing over for a converted try.
Shortly after the break Malton lost second-row forward John Dobson with a shoulder injury. As they were settling down Gateshead narrowed the gap with another penalty.
However, this was to be the last they were able to muster as Malton regained control.
The front row of Adam Turnbull, Muscroft and Paul Dobson were tremendous, constantly driving holes through the Gateshead pack.
From a series of several pick and drives they made fully 30 metres before being awarded a penalty close to the Gateshead line.
Ignoring the touchline and catch and drive option Malton took a tap penalty. Dobson made ground before laying the ball back perfectly for substitute scrum half Tom Stephenson to feed Creber. He found Muscroft on his shoulder and again the hooker proved an unstoppable force as he powered over. Cooke again converted to finalise the scoring.
This was Malton back to something like their best. One or two areas still require fine- tuning, but the signs are good and the hard work being put in on the training ground is showing dividends.
Muscroft was the man of the match but he was closely followed by both front row colleagues, Turnbull and Dobson, while Creber was as influential as ever.
Updated: 11:06 Monday, September 26, 2005
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