Aireborough came back from the Christmas break ready to turn their season around and climb up the Yorkshire 3 table.

Fielding a strong squad, the Wolfpack faced local rivals Baildon in what would be a fired-up encounter with no love lost between the two sides.

The game began exactly as Aire had wanted. Pressure was put on the Baildon attack as the visitors couldn’t exit from within their own 40m. A penalty was given for holding on in the ruck and captain Ollie Catherall stepped up to take three. 3-0

As Baildon kicked off to get us back underway, they managed to steal the ball and launch an attack of their own.

Nick Holdsworth managed to pounce on a loose ball and all of a sudden the inside centre was charging towards the Baildon line from midfield, only to be stopped short. A pop off the ground found Lewis Myers and the colt scored in the corner. Catherall missed the kick from touch. 8-0

Baildon came back down the hill with gusto, attacking the Aire line and getting held up short on a couple of occasions, only to win a penalty and go for the points. 8-3

Before half time, Aireborough were camped in the Baildon 22 but couldn’t convert anything into points. Catherall went for two penalty attempts to exatnd the lead before the break but sadly left his kicking boots at home and the score stayed the same at the interval.

HT – Aireborough 8-3 Baildon

A promising start, considering Aire were playing up the hill in the first half. The team were working well and holding on to the ball well, despite some dubious counter-rucking technique from the visitors that went unnoticed.

Baildon struck first in the second half, taking a penalty to reduce the deficit to 3 from the boot. 8-6

Aire got the ball back and charged up the field, assisted by a dropped ball from the Baildon winger. Approaching the tryline, the forwards kept the ball in tight and it was Adam Jackson who drove low and dotted down over the line. Conversion missed. 13-6

The hosts’ ascendency continued as they were immediately back in the Baildon 22 with the ball. This time the ball was shipped wide and found the hands of winger Jamie Sykes who beat three defenders with his electric step to score in the corner and extend Aire’s lead. Conversion missed. 18-6

The following 20 minutes was a flurry of penalties against Aireborough which put a halt to any forward momentum, and Baildon started to come back at the hosts.

Baildon were finally getting ball in the Aireborough half, something thy hadn’t had all match. They made the pressure tell with a try to bring them back to within five. 18-13

Almost immediately after, Baildon turned over the ball at the breakdown and came back at Aire. During build up play, the referee called a halt to play for a Baildon penalty and Liam Cree was shown a yellow card, something we’re still unsure of the cause.

In the aftermath, Baildon broke and, despite knocking on over the line, they were awarded a try. The conversion was missed and the scores were tied at 18-18

In the last 10 minutes, Aire couldn’t get their hands on the ball, and Baildon were seemingly getting away with murder at the breakdown, with Aire constantly being pulled up by the official.

In the final few minutes, Baildon broke down the left again and a series of offloads saw the visitors go over in the corner to seal the game and the league double over Aireborough this season. The kick was awarded from touch.

FT – Aireborough 18-25 Baildon

What started out as a promising and very winnable game, finished as a scrappy and disappointing affair. Aireborough were clearly the stronger team, but as it has been all season, they couldn’t put the game to bed or produce the clinical finishing whilst in the opposition 22.

Aire will have another go at bouncing back with a tricky home tie against Rotherham Phoenix next Saturday.