Aireborough lose to local rivals

The Aire faithful made the short journey down the road with a spirit of anticipation. The new coaching team Matt Trevithick, Martyn Booth and Craig Mcloughlin had worked hard all summer and numbers attending had been good (though as usual could be better). Richard Lister (a new import from Ossett) has been appointed as first team captain, giving Nick Jackson a well- earned rest (thanks to Nick for all his efforts over the years).

An initial glance at the score might lead you to believe these efforts had been to no avail but this is far from the truth – there were far more positives than negatives on display and to those who had witnessed last seasons displays were heartened to see a much better team spirit, hard work most of the time and much more structured attacking and defensive patterns.

Playing a very fit and well organised team Aire started on the back foot and lost the early forward exchanges and were 10-0 down after eleven minutes. After working their way back into the picture a twenty fifth minute penalty by Nick Holdsworth narrowed the gap. Almost from the restart the defence cracked, conceding first a try and then a penalty. The period before half-time saw Aire turn the tables and the forwards dominated the home team and against most teams in the league they would have had some points but Ensians defence was excellent.

The second half mirrored the first in many ways, Ensians starting well and scoring early on to widen the gap. Once again the Aire forwards battled their back into the game, good pressure near the line allowing scrum half Ollie Catherall to sneak his way over. A further excellent piece of work by the Aire backs saw the ball travel along the back line for winger Dave Krushell to score in the corner.
Certainly more positives than negatives and lots of hope for the future.