After both teams had observed the minutes silence in dazzling sunshine at Coal Pit Lane Bridge went straight to work, as Matt Nesbit set the tone on debut with a bullying carry taking the ball 20 metres through contact.

It wasn’t long before the home side opened the scoring. With Goole now wary of Matt Nesbit a miss pass opened up the space on the outside shoulder as Ben Westby was hauled down agonisingly close. Quick ball allowed Sam Whitaker (sponsored by The Business Hair Salon) to charge over before Goole could set their defence.

The remainder of the half was played in Stocksbridge territory, as Goole pressed hard. The defence held firm until the break, however handling errors and misguided kicks prevented Bridge from adding a further score, 5-0 at half time.

The second half brought much more for the supporters to enjoy, as Goole swiftly levelled the score. A line break through the middle attracted the cover defence, and any one of three Goole players on the overlap could have scored in the corner.

Stocksbridge regained a slender lead via the boot of Scott Bowskill shortly afterwards, before Goole snatched it back immediately. The move began from a Stocksbridge attack, before the ball was lost forward and scooped up by Goole, and a series of fantastic offloads released the open side into space to score under the posts. The seemingly simple kick was missed to make it a 2 point game.

The lead changed hands again as Bowskill intercepted a ball and kicked long into the 22, his chase forcing the full back to concede a 5 metre line out. With veteran prop Andy Lambert adding stability to the set piece, a textbook driving maul allowed the skipper Pete Newton (sponsored by Ben Parkin Art) to score the try, the conversion attempt just short.

The pick of the bunch came next as the home side shipped the ball intently from left to right and back again with a great variety of hard carries and evasive half breaks. As the phases began to rack up and the lungs of the Goole pack began to empty leading to an inevitable overlap which, after some clinical handling, was finished off by Dave Potts with a run in under the sticks. The scores at 20-10, a 10 point lead looked secure so close to full time.

Stocksbridge were in for a tense final few moments however, as Liam Roebuck was sent to the bin for an illegal tackle and Goole immediately capitalised. The inside centre scythed through the defence from scrappy line out ball to bring the scores to 20-17.

Stocksbridge held on for the win in what was a truly physical and spirited performance from all. The debutant Matt Nesbit took the Man of the Match award with a dominant display, topping the tackle count on the day.