Thanks to injuries and other commitments there were only 13 names on the teamsheet after Thursday's training session.
The problem was most acute in the backs with the coaches having to persuade flanker Jonny Boatman to come out of retirement to play at inside centre.
Head coach Iain Dixon was up against former West legend Mick Watson whose side had risen to third place off the back of some impressive performances from a big pack.
Instead, it was the West eight who started off the strongest by dominating the early scrums although they couldn’t exert the same control at the line-out.
It was from a line-out that the home side had the first scoring chance, but winger Billy Hardy pulled his penalty from in front of the posts.
We lost hooker Andrew Rollins to the sin-bin for a deliberate offside, however that didn’t deter us from moving upfield and we won a penalty just inside the home half.
With Rollins off the field Zac Southern opted for a kick at goal and his long range effort put us ahead.
It wasn’t long before the pressure at scrum time paid off again with Southern making a break to send Peter Youll away. His long pass was weighted perfectly for top scorer Sam Miller to power his way in at the corner to give West a deserved 8-0 lead at the break.
We had the slope in the second half but Pocklington came out of the traps determined to get back in the game. Try as they might they came up against a resolute West defensive wall and rarely threatened to cross the try line.
The injury hoodoo struck again when impressive second row Luke Chapman limped off - Jay Corbett coming on for his first game in six weeks with the West pack continuing to go forward.
Luke Mallinson – also back from a concussion injury – got through with an excellent kick and chase, but was unlucky to be called back for an earlier offence.
Pocklington were led by prop Mat Webber, whose brother Rob was on England duty at Twickenham, but coach Watson was forced to change his front row in an effort to get his side back in the game.
We were forced to give away several penalties, however Pocklington weren’t able to take advantage and it was West who increased their lead.
A deft kick through from Southern was chased down by Mallinson and the home side were forced to defend desperately on their line.
Both Miller and Corbett were held up over the line and when the ball was spun out Southern went over to set himself up for an easy conversion.
Pocklington came back through lively scrum half Jack Fletcher and he was only just denied when he was tackled into touch.
However, he did manage to get over after another excellent break down the right-wing. The missed conversion being the last play of the game.
Pocklington: Charlie Allen, Jack Walters, Pete Massie, Matt White, Billy Hardy, Henry Mitchell, Jack Fletcher, Mat Webber, Ben Stephenson, Chris Formon, Tom Peters, James Wilkinson, Joe Brown, Matt Davies, Jack Holbrough (captain).
Replacements (all used): Alex Smith, Dave Birch, Archie Fothergill.
Tries: Fletcher.
West: Stu Waites, Kyle Jamieson, Peter Youll, Jon Boatman, Luke Mallinson, Zac Southern, Ryan Painter, Ian Pinchen, Andrew Rollins, Adam Coates, Joe Rafferty, Luke Chapman, Jordan Baggs, Dan Boatman (captain), Sam Miller.
Replacements (all used): Ross Wood, Matt Tyers, Jay Corbett.
Tries: Miller, Southern.
Pens: Southern (1)
Cons: Southern (1)
Yellow: Rollins.
Referee: Mr John Wolstenholme (Yorkshire)