Stuttering leaders thankful to Creber

Malton took the lead with a try by centre Ryan Lonsdale, and Tom Collard converted this as well as a second try by winger Tommy Newitt.

Rockett pulled back the first of his two penalties before half-time, but Malton increased their lead when fly-half Chris Creber raced over for another try.

After winning their first 17 league matches to open a commanding lead, Malton lost by a single point at Keighley, were held to a draw at bottom club Bradford Salem and then scraped a one-point win against third-placed Heath.

They are still 18 points clear of Sheffield, who gained a four-try bonus point in a 31-8 victory at local rivals Dinnington.

Sheffield took the lead after four minutes when second-row Tommy White crashed over for a try which Donal Collins converted.

Dinnington pulled back a penalty from scrum-half Danny Wilkinson but Collins, who did not miss a kick, converted a try by full-back Nick Cook to give Sheffield a 14-3 interval lead.

Collins added a penalty and converted tries by centre Joe Cribley and prop Tommy Marples before Dinnington had the last word with a try in the 79th minute by winger Dave Longstaff.

Heath slightly extended their advantage over Keighley when they scored a four-try bonus point in a 32-15 home win over Selby.

Visiting scrum-half Matthew Smith soon sprinted over but Heath then went 24-5 in front with tries by wingers Simon Brown and Darren Fermoyle and stand-off Charlie Lomas. Full-back Matt Hallett converted all three and added a penalty.

Selby reduced the arrears in stoppage time with a converted try by Alex Arthur but failed to take their chances and were restricted to one further penalty by Webster after the break.

Yorkshire Two: Leaders Pocklington edged a further point ahead of Huddersfield YMCA when they ran in five tries on their way to a 37-10 home victory over Leodiensians.

Scrum-half Ben Rees scored two tries for the home side, with centre Joe Holbrough and winger Dan Pickard also touching down.

It was an eventful day for Mikey Davies, who made his senior debut when he was called off the bench before the match. He scored Pocklington’s other try, but suffered a shoulder injury as he crashed over the line and took no further part in the match.

Nick Bennett converted three and added two penalties to take his total for the season over the 250-point mark. Nick Wainwright scored a first-half penalty for Leos and converted their late consolation try by fly-half Tom Bindloss, who ran almost the length of the field to score.

Barnsley beat hosts West Leeds 43-19 with a hat-trick from Aaron Gaunt helping them to victory.

Yarnbury moved ahead of Hullensians into fourth place with an 18-13 win in their derby at West Park Leeds despite the home side scoring the only two tries.

Yarnbury, whose game was disrupted by injuries to full-back Andy Greaves, second-row Ian Maycock and centre James Metcalfe, clinched the match with two late drop goals by Carl Paterson.

West Park had turned round 9-3 down, stand-off Ollie Trace landing a penalty, but they came back to take the lead at 13-9 with tries by back-row Glen Kilvington and hooker Tom Howarth.

Two tries from winger Mark Docking helped Moortown to a 29-19 win at Old Rishworthians, and centre Gareth Christian-Lim and James Collinge also touched down.

Winger Lucas Wootton and full-back Gavin Ackers-Johnson both scored hat-tricks as Skipton beat Doncaster Phoenix 57-0.

Yorkshire Three: With runaway leaders Wath on Dearne not playing and second-placed Baildon suffering a defeat at Aireborough, Goole took advantage with a 25-5 victory at neighbours Thornensians.

Thorne took the lead in the opening seconds when inside centre Zak Holgate raced over in the corner, Oliver Cox missing the difficult conversion.

Goole pulled back a penalty by Mike Stoakes and took control with tries from hooker Mark Woodall and wingers James Cunningham and Robert Shand.

Stoakes converted one to put the visitors 20-5 ahead by half-time, and the only further score was Shand’s second try 25 minutes into the second half which earned Goole a bonus to put them to within four league points of Baildon with two matches in hand.

Tries from John Saddington and Andy Stuart helped Rotherham Phoenix win 14-3 at home against Halifax Vandals.