We started brightly and pretty much from the opening whistle moved into the visitors 22. We were rewarded with a penalty in-front of the posts which Stu Waites duly slotted. Sam Triffit had a tougher chance to level the scores minutes later but his kick drifted wide before Waites should have doubled the lead but skewed a straightforward kick past the right hand post.
It had been quite an uneventful half as far as the scoreboard operators were concerned with both teams defending well and neither able to finish any of their chances. That all changed in the final ten minutes of the half which brought four tries and a yellow card!
The first score came thanks to an overthrown Malton & Norton lineout close to their own line which dropped straight into the hands of Andrew Rollins who cleverly slipped the ball to Sam Miller to go over for the try. Painter then got his first with a simple dash to the line after a quick tap penalty before Tom Newitt pulled one back for the visitors – capitalising well on our turnover ball.
Painter soon restored our advantage, finishing from close range following good work from Andy Cheslin and Rollins, and before the half-time whistle blew there was still time for visiting scrum half Rob Featherstone to see yellow after he came in at the side to prevent another counter-attack on half-way.
The half-time break proved no interruption to the scoring rate as just five minutes into the second period Painter completed his hat-trick when the ball went loose from the base of a Malton & Norton scrum and he picked up and dove in at the right corner.
It was the opposite corner that was the scene of the next touch down with some quick hands along the backline giving Colin Cheslin just enough space to squeeze over by the corner flag.
Despite trailing 32-7 Malton & Norton had their best period of the game with sustained possession for a long period and their endeavour was eventually rewarded when a break up the middle was finished well once again by winger Newitt.
The game appeared to be drifting to its conclusion but in the final five minutes we put a bit of extra gloss on the scoreline with two tries in quick succession. First Dan Boatman took an offload from Adam Coates and strolled over the line and then Liam Bailey, who had made numerous breaks through the mid-field, once again broke and tackle and beat two men to get a deserved score. Peter Youll added the final conversion after Stu Waites had to leave the field with a leg injury.
West: C Cheslin, Butcher, A Cheslin, Bailey, Youll, Waites, Painter, Coates, Rollins, Pinchen, Hogan, Bennett, D Boatman, J Boatman, Miller.
Reps: Dixon, Atkins, Armstrong
Tries: Miller, Painter 3, Cheslin, D Boatman, Bailey
Cons: Waites 3, Youll
Pen: Waites
YC: J Boatman
Malton & Norton: Parsons, Newitt, Boyle, Thompson, Emma, Triffit, Featherstone, Whittaker, Coe, Woodhouse, Ramsay, Cooke, Leiataua, Fifita, Dobson.
Tries: Newitt 2
Cons: Triffit 2
YC: Featherstone, Fifita