REPORT BY: HARRY SMITH

SANDAL made the journey to Stacks Field on Saturday in good spirits after a very convincing win over Heath the previous weekend.

However, Ilkley were up for any challenge to be thrown their way after a disappointing loss at Percy Park last week.

The hosts started on the front foot, but one of their opening sets was fumbled forwards, and Ilkley were left scoreless after hammering the Sandal try line.

Sandal had some good time on the ball in the last quarter of the half but like Ilkley, didn’t have anything to show for it. Ilkley’s impressive defence was again on point making life hard for the Sandal attack.

Sandal had a visit to Ilkley’s 22 for the first time in the game which came through a scrum in their favour.

The visitors played some very narrow “one up” rugby sending the big forwards into contact. The Sandal scrum-half made a dart to the line and fed a Sandal forward to scramble to the line with Ilkley defenders holding on.

Despite the extra weight of the anchoring Ilkley players, the ball was slammed over the try line. The fly-half added the extras to make it 7-0 in favour of the away side.

Ilkley then came back to Sandal with a line out on 22 meter line to set another driving maul. The hosts then went wide and found a blistering Harrison to go through the middle who was tackled short of the line.

A Penalty advantage saw Charles Morgan kick wide for Matty Smith who claimed the ball, only to drop it over the line.

A kick to touch from the penalty saw another maul but this time it was held up.

Early on in the second half and Sandal got a penalty. A quick tap and go resulted in Joe Lowes being sent to the sin-bin for tripping the marauding attacker.

However, Ilkley bounced back when Sandal scrambled clear, only for the kick to be charged down and land in danger man Harry Harrison’s hands.

The speedster outpaced his man on the wing to find a charging Matty Sheard on the inside, who mad no mistake in darting over the line. Charles Morgan misses the extra, as the visitors held on to a 7-5 lead.

Sandal quickly responded to this score and were rewarded a penalty for a man not rolling. On the 22 meter line in front of sticks, a pretty routine kick for Sandal saw them go 10-5 ahead.

The visitors further extended their lead through their rapid winger, who touched down in the corner for a converted try. Sandal were now leading 17-5.

Ilkley pushed to reduce the deficit but ultimately struggled to do so, and they'll be disappointed to have not got more from this game given their great attacking work.

A break in fixtures next week will allow them to come together and plan for what comes next.