Featherstone Rovers 34 Dewsbury Rams 14 With Tiger Handforth back in the driving seat Rovers never looked like being beaten by a Dewsbury side who couldn't have complained if the winning margin had been a lot bigger. Many times good Rovers interpasssing almost led to tries only to be denied by last gasp tackling by the tiring Rams. In defence, Rovers were much better than of late and gangly centre Andrew Bostock who seemed to break through at ease 4 weeks ago was bottled up for the vast majority of the game by Andy Kirk and Wayne McHugh. The game started with Rovers playing down the slope in dry windy conditions. Only two minutes into the game a Lawford kick on the last found at least five of his colleagues offside. From the resulting penalty Rovers drove at the Dewsbury line where once again the Rams were penalised for standing well forward of the defensive line and Stuart popped over the kick under the posts for an early lead. Dewsbury were finding it increasingly difficult to clear their line and get any useful On the very next set Rovers nearly scored again as Tiger threw a dummy and eased through the line before putting a kick through for Wayne McHugh. The ball wouldn't bounce up and Wayne had to put boot to ball as he chased it. His kick was just too strong for him to reach before it went dead. We didn't have long to wait though and once again it was down the Rovers right. A 40-20 gave Rovers possession on the left and as the ball was passed along the line a beautiful delayed pass from Handforth put Andy Kirk in for a try. In the blustery conditions Stuart hit the post with the attempted conversion. Rovers continued to pressure the Dewsbury line and achieved back to back sets when a kick through by Andy Kain was chased well by McHugh who forced the goal line drop out, but This was the final score of the half that finished with the score at 14-4. Rovers extended their lead in the fifth minute of the second half when a penalty for a high tackle gave Stuart a reasonably easy kick for another 2 points and it didn't take long for even more points to be on the board. A good run by Tommy Saxton and a pass to Steve Dooler who was able to release winger Lee Lingard to score on the left. Once again the attempted conversion hit the post and bounced the wrong way. Dewsbury were really wobbling at this time as Rovers came straight back at them and another excellent delayed pass from Paul Handforth put Jamie Field in under the sticks to leave Stuart with an easy conversion which he kicked. The score was 26-4 and you couldn't see where Dewsbury were going to score again. Lawford was never short of ideas and his kick offs were floated for his onrushing players but every one was dealt with well by the Rovers players. Then came the incident that in a much closer game could well have been the game breaker. Tony Tonks was shown the yellow card by Mr Hewer for one high tackle too many and with Rovers down to 12 men, Lawford and Weeden started whipping the ball from side to side of the field trying to stretch the Rovers defence. This they managed to do twice in the ensuing 10 minutes. The first came when it With their lead reduced to 12 points and still a man down, Rovers were the next to score. Once again quick hands along the Dewsbury line looked threatening, but the final pass was not good enough and from the resulting knock on Andy Kain swooped onto the ball and raced 50 metres to score in the corner. This was the final try and the conversion was missed but with 13 men back on the field Rovers The final score came from a penalty kick by James Houston. An excellent break by Carl Hughes had once again put Rovers into a good scoring position but as the final pass went to Jamie Field to simply drop over the line and score he was hauled back before the ball arrived by Dominic Maloney. Maloney was sin binned, the kick was converted and Rovers could look back at a job well done.
Half Time 14-4 Referee Mr G Hewer Scoring sequence 2-0, 8-0, 12-0, 14-0, 14-4, 16-4, 20-4, 26-4, 26-10, 26-14, 30-14, 31-14, 32-14, 34-14 Game breaker: Ten minutes playing against 12 men had raised the Dewsbury hopes only for Andy Kain's interception try to finally erase any doubts Rovers might have had. Crowd 1243 © 2008 Stuart Lonsdale Any comments (constructive criticism welcomed) or volunteers please email webmaster@featherstonerovers.net
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ball in the Rovers half and when a knock on gifted the ball to Lee Lingard, he made excellent ground so that once again the Rovers were camped in the Rams 20. The ball moved through hands to the right and when there was no way through there it came back into the middle for Steve Dooler to force his way over close to the sticks. An easy conversion for Stuart and Rovers were starting to build a convincing lead that was never threatened. 
the Rams defence stood firm. Soon after this it looked as if Dewsbury had their first points on the board. A high shot from Paul Handforth gave away the penalty that put them in the Rovers half. Good hands on the last tackle seemed to have resulted in a score for Epati in the corner, but the linesman stood his ground as the final pass was adjudged to have been forward. Another Rovers penalty stretched the lead by another 2 points but the Rams didn't have to wait long to score. An intelligent kick off, aimed for the touch line, evaded Lee Lingard and gave Dewsbury head and feed at the resulting scrum. With the ball in Dean Lawford's hands he dummied the pass and instead cut through to score a try which loose forward Walker failed to convert.
looked like good tackling by Lingard had snuffed out the threat only for Rovers to fall for the sucker punch as Walker sneaked over from acting half. A good kick from the same player added the extras but he was unable to do the same when once again the extra width of 13 against 12 gave an opening for Andrew Bostock to score on the left. 
never looked in danger again. Twice it looked like Featherstone were going to score again but each time when the attack was thwarted Tiger decided to come away with something and settled for a point on each occasion. 
