There were ominous signs early on with Malton pinching their first two line-outs but West looked to have settled after eight minutes when Allan Milne and Peter Hodgson combined to send Andrew Hare racing in from 50 metres. Unfortunately he’d put a foot in touch.
West remained in the home 22 but lost a scrum on the 22 metre line and flanker Phil Ryan made a break before kicking ahead for winger Ian Cooke to beat Hare to the touchdown which he then converted.
Minutes later Malton again kicked down the middle but this Davy Tighe was able to collect but as the Malton forwards piled in he was penalised for not releasing and Cooke made it 10-0.
Malton's back row and Aussie fly half Andy Newsome were dictating the play but West forced their way back into the Malton half and persistent pressure saw Tighe slot two penalties to put them back in contention .
They should have gone ahead on 398 minutes when Hare again made an excellent break with Henry Tones in support but the West flanker was tackled as he went for the line.
But the game turned for this hosts second later when Tim sawyer was sin binned for a punch on his opposite number Carl Muscroft.
Allan Milne who was struggling with a back injury came off to make way fro Mark Cholmondley to takeover Sawyer’s front row duties and Malton promptly exploited the gap in the West backs with Simpson finishing off a fine move to gallop in on the right.
He taunted West full back Darren Thomas as he went to touchdown who promptly retaliated earning Malton a penalty restart after Cooke had missed an easy penalty.
On the stroke of half time they made it 18-6 with another penalty.
Things got worse for West five minutes into the restart when Brett Cullinane finally succumbed to a calf injury. Almost immediately Number 8 James McKay picked up from a scrum and sprinted round the blindside evading a challenge from Andrew Hare to score to make it 23-6.
West fought back but continually spilled the ball in the tackle. Winger Dan Abrahams was looking the most likely to score with several strong runs but backed by a big crowd Malton and Norton were defending strongly.
There was a chink of light for the visitors on 50 minutes when prop Liam Vaughan was sin binned for punching but despite being camped in the home 22 for five minutes West couldn’t add to their score.
Instead it was James McKay who again outpaced his opposing back row to score on 70 minutes and the Paul Rudd had a rush of bl0lod to the head and was sin binned for a very late tackle on scrum half Chris Crebe. Cooke finished off the scoring with the resulting penalty.
West now face Horden at Brinkburn next Saturday with skipper Stu Bennett promising a better display against his former club.
He said: “We will be working hard this week because we know we let ourselves down. Our ball retention and handling was just nowhere near how we performed last season and we have to work out why and get back to basics.”

Malton and Norton: Jason Simpson, Ian Cooke, George Mosey, Rob Chidley, Ian Mansell, Chris Creber, Andy Newsome, Paul Dobson, Carl Muscroft, Liam Vaughan, Duncan Foster, Richard Webster, Andy Mitchell, Phil Ryan [ Matt Miers 49], James McKay.
West: Darren Thomas, Andrew Hare, Peter Hodgson, Allan Milne [Paul Moss 70], Andrew Hare, Phil Wallis [Martin Todd 72], Davy Tighe, Brettt Cullinane [Mark Cholmondeley 45], Tim Sawyer, Anthony Carr, Phil Henderson, Carl Miller, Paul Rudd, Henry Tones, Stuart Bennett.