West were left to rue both missed opportunities and missed tackles. The forwards had parity upfront and won plenty of ball but long periods, particularly in the first half, camped in the visitors 22 resulted in no points. The Mowden Park back division always looked dangerous with ball in hand and they took their opportunities when they came although some average tackling certainly helped with two of the scores.

Hero of last week's win at Cleckheaton Paul Moss didn't bring his kicking boots this week and three costly first half misses were followed by another in the second period, points which West sorely missed. Admittedly two of the chances were long range but the others were simple shots that the fly-half would normally expect to slot over without trouble.

West did make some good line breaks, with Moss in particular going through on a number of occasions, but but time after time the last pass wasn't quite there or a Park defender managed to disrupt the move just short of he line.

The crucial period of the game was the closing stages of the first half when, with Park having both Ryan Painter and Chris Oakley in the sin-bin West could only manage a solitary Moss penalty which Richie Young cancelled out just before the break. West had dominated possession and territory for the half but went in 8-6 down, two Moss penalties on 5 and 34 minutes countered by the Young penalty and a try from winger Matt Goforth.

Mowden Park opened the second half with a bang, full-back Chris Massarella scoring a try, converted by Young, only two minutes in. What followed was a snapshot which could have been used to depict the whole game. West pushed forward and were awarded a penalty just to the right of the posts, 25 metres out. Moss slid the kick wide and Park went straight down to the other end of the field, Painter taking a quick tap penalty on the 5 metre line and feeding Young to dive in for a try which he converted himself.

18 year-old scrum half Harry Readhead, making his home debut for West, gave the hosts some hope when he took a nice offload from Paul Rudd and finished well for a score on 55 minutes and ten minutes later the game really looked on when Gareth Kerr pounced on a loose ball on half way and raced up the touchline for another try. Zac Southern, starting the game in place of Peter Hodgson on the wing, slotted the conversion and the gap was closed to four points.

But that margin was short-lived as Park once again showed their class, keeping the ball alive well and after a break up the touchline, slipped an inside pass to left-wing Alan Jones who finished easily. Young added the conversion to take his personal point tally to 14.

West never really got a sniff of earning the losing bonus with another try and credit must go to Mowden Park who well deserved their victory. West will be disappointed but can take some encouragement from a more than competitive performance where, had they been more clinical, the final score may well have had a very different look. Things don't get any easier with a trip to Sheffield Tigers next week before returning to Brinkburn on October 10th to face Middlesbrough.



West: Wilson, Southern, Kerr, Connolly, Cheslin, Moss, Readhead, Carr, Sawyer, Norris (Stewart), T Dixon, Davies, D Boatman (Bailey), J Boatman, Rudd

Tries: Readhead, Kerr
Con: Southern
Pen: Moss 2

Sin-bin: Moss

Mowden Park: Massarella, Goforth, Hodgson, Pugh, Jones, Young, R Painter, D Painter, Murray, Appleby, Oakley, Squire, Pearson, Seddon, Wilkinson
Reps: Brown, Monument, Snook

Tries: Goforth, Massarella, Young, Jones
Cons: Young 3
Pen: Young

Sin-bin: R Painter, Oakley

Referee: Will Halford