Steve Tosney writes.

Selby travelled to York for their third league game of the season with confidence after last week’s win and immediately from the kick off they imposed themselves on their opponents, controlling several phases through the forwards but without impacting the scoreboard. After the first 10 minutes Selby could have counted themselves unfortunate to be ahead when they let York into the game who, after a brief period of organised forward play, powered over the line leaving Selby trailing 5-0 by the unconverted try.

Selby however put this behind them and continued their positive play and went ahead from an opportunistic individual try from Janus who fly-hacked the ball forward and gave chase himself before grounding the ball to level the score, which then was converted by Kealey top make it 5-7 in Selby’s favour.

This then seemed to stir York who then entered their best phase of the game and were shortly ahead 12-7 following a converted try after playing to the advantage afforded them by the referee following an infringement. Shortly afterwards Selby could be forgiven for feeling aggrieved after York were awarded a penalty following a clearance kick from Sibley who was then subject to a very late tackle which went unpunished. Instead a decision of offside against the Selby chasers was given and York took quick advantage of the disarray in the Selby ranks to score yet another converted try making the score 19-7.

York then made the most of this purple patch in the game and played to their strengths by utilising their weight advantage in the forwards to power over the line with some strong driving in a maul, with the conversion being complete bouncing in off the post to leave Selby with a mountain to climb at half time 26-7.

Selby however re-grouped at half time and came out from the blocks with intent and passion to take the game to their opponents, camping themselves in the York third for ten minutes before the impressive Hoyland powered over under the posts and converting himself to make the score 26-14.

Selby continued their pressure and dominance over York in the following period of play before again scoring an excellent team try finished by talisman Janus offloading to Sibley who scored under the posts – converted by Hoyland to bring the score within one try at 26-21.
At this point it looked like there was only going to be one winner with Selby increasingly imposing themselves on their opponent and performing very well in the scrummages against a much heavier pack. However, York spotted an opportunity in one of their few forays into Selby’s half and chipped over a cross field kick which was chased down by the York winger to score, with an excellent conversion following from distance to make it 33-21.

Near the end of the game York were awarded a penalty in front of the posts and opted to kick for the 3 points, putting the game beyond Selby’s reach. Full time 36-21.

Outstanding performances from Cockeram, Massam, Kealey and Sibley lay the foundation for this excellent team effort from Selby who can count themselves unlucky to be on the wrong side of the score line on the day.