Last gasp Aire overcome Halifax in tight league match

Aire travelled to Halifax for their first league game on the back of two confidence boosting pre season victories. Aire lost Jay Clay before the match, but a late night game of rock, paper, scissors brought an able replacement in Will "Basteraud" Green. It would be fair to say that Halifax had a weight and size advantage; however Aire had many of the youngsters who had served them so well in the first two games.

This game was a voyage into the unknown for Aire, but as demonstrated in the previous run out this team has bags of Danny Paul inspired character and they weren't going to roll over. It was the home side that started the brightest and they used their big pack to punch holes in Aire's defence. Halifax's retention was good and Aire found themselves on the back foot and had difficulty to getting out of their own 22m. Clearance kicks were invariably returned by the home side and pressure applied back on Aire's stretched defence. Matters were made worse when scrum half Bish went down with a nasty looking foot injury and had to leave the field. Liam Cree initially plugged the gap and Will Green joined the fray, leaving only Mark "Rollo" Rollinson on the bench. Halifax dominated in terms of possession and territory but to a man Aire tackled like demons to keep them at bay. The opening score from Halifax was the result of a speculative kick through, which seemed to be covered but the Halifax player came from no where to outstrip the defenders and score to make it 7-0.

Recent weeks have shown that Aire have bags of fight and weren't going to crumble. Aire's loose forwards have proved efficient at the breakdown and today was to be no different. A ruck penalty game Aire territory with a lineout around the 22m. It was contested by Halifax, but timing was spot on and Chappers rose highest for a neat take. The maul was set and hooker Will Girt joined at the tail. Aire put the nudge on and Will saw that the blind side wasn't fully covered and he detatched and sprinted down the left side and outstripped all defender to eventually score near the posts. The kick was calmly slotted by Ollie Gvin and it was all square at 7-7. The next exchanges were cagey, with both teams making errors and giving away possession with inaccurate kicking.

Halifax began taking a foothold again and looked almost certain to score down the left, but some sterling defence held them out. Aire now had to defend a 5m scrum on the retreat. Halifax shipped the ball and some slick handling resulted in a score on the right which wasn't converted. This was a difficult period for Aire and Halifax had their tails up and were in the ascendancy. Again kicking provided the home team with broken field possession and a neat move saw a 2 on 1 that led to another Fax score making it 17-7. Aire allied and then it was their turn to get some decent field position. Aire's big runners began to cause some damage and some neat interplay and pop passes by Chappers, Mikey Dolan and Harry Emmott put Aire in striking distance. Aire were knocking on the door, but a series of drives were met with solid tackles. Chappers carried another hard line, which pulled in defenders, creating a 2 on 2 to the right. The ball was shipped to prop Lewis Eastwood who was 5m out and had 1 player to beat. There was no subtlety involved and Lewis bullocked through a solid challenge to score out on the right to make it 17-12 at half time.

The 2nd half saw Dan Marchbank at 9 and Liam Cree revering to the centres, which improved Aire's balance. Aire gathered the re-start and immediately made inroads into Halifax territory. There were some big collisions and neither team shirked a tackle. Aire applied pressure in the 22 and made hard yards to get within 5m. Dan Marchbank was at the base of a ruck and somehow managed to twist and turn through a congested defence to dot down for a marvelous converted score 17-19. The remaining minutes were frenetic, with both teams probing for the winning score. Aire were under the pump 5m out and the Halifax maul looked certain to score the winner but somehow Luke Exley, Dan Sellers and Mikey Dolan managed to hold it up and were awarded a relieving scrum. It wasn't for the feint hearted and Aire looked sunk when they were penalised for playing the ball on the deck and the penalty was slotted 20-19. This team has bucket loads of heart and never say die attitude and they rallied for one last effort. They were out on their feet but pure determination saw them back in Halifax red zone. It seemed that time would run out but with 2 mins remaining they were awarded a tricky penalty to the right of the sticks. Ollie Gavin must have ice in his veins because he calmly stepped up and slotted the winner.

At the final whistle both teams were out on their feet having played their part in pulsating encounter. Halifax awarded MOM to Mikey Dolan, but all of the Aire lads deserve credit for a performance that was full of commitment, heart and spirit. The lads were relieved and although it's been a while it was great to hear Gold being raucously belted out from the away changing room.

A big farewell to departing coach Danny Paul, who despite challenging times has left his mark and belief for many years to come.