Shaw Cross A team’s title hopes dented by defeat

Despite East Leeds lying bottom of the table, they fielded a strong side and put a severe dent in the Sharks’ title hopes.

Dudley Hill lead the table on points difference from the Sharks, with the final round of league matches this Saturday.

Shaw Cross travel to Hunslet Warriors A, with Dudley Hill away to third placed Heworth and the Bradford outfit hold a 17-point advantage in the points difference column.

Shaw Cross started last Saturday’s contest well and were dominant with good work from forwards Aiden Chandler and Mathew Myers.

Youngster Jake Townsend bulldozed his way over the line, beating three defenders to score out wide after just 10 minutes but East Leeds found their feet and hit back not long after scoring in the corner to level matters.

The Sharks found themselves in a battle against a well-drilled side, although always looked threatening with good breaks by Thomas Stuckey and Joe Bownass.

There was no further score in the first half, with the sides going into the break locked at 4-4.

Unforced errors proved to be the Sharks undoing in the second half as they allowed East Leeds to score four unanswered tries, three of which were converted as the home side took control.

The game was getting away from James Collins’ men but the Shaw Cross heads never dropped and they battled back.

Ben Spaven scored twice in quick succession, one of which was converted by Alex Whittaker, reducing the deficit to 26-14.

With 10 minutes to play the Sharks thought they had time to get back in the game, however another error gave East Leeds an easy run in to score the final try of the game, which was converted to seal their win.

It was a disappointing result for the Sharks and with Dudley Hill having beaten Normanton Knights 47-18 in their penultimate game, the title race goes down to the wire this Saturday.