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Siddal 15 East Hull 8: Defence clinches it for steely Siddal
SIDDAL are the country's top amateur team once more after outpointing East Hull in a compelling National Conference Grand Final at Post Office Road on Saturday afternoon.
Lee Greenwood's table toppers had been embarrassed by Easts a fortnight earlier when the Humbersiders triumphed 24-4 in play off action at Chevinedge.
But they turned the tables superbly at Featherstone with a supreme defensive performance that ultimately reduced last season's double-winners to an frustrated, ill-disciplined rabble.
Siddal will now head to Fylde at the end of this month looking to clinch their own double with success over Wigan St Cuthberts in the National Cup decider.
With regular stand off Shaun Garrod's hamstring injury leaving chief playmaking duties in the hands of Lee Gudor, Siddal never looked like having the firepower to win a high scoring match.
What they needed to do was to stonewall Easts' juggernaut pack and deprive dangermen Gary Weymes and Scott Yeaman of the space they craved.
And they did it brilliantly, with Luke Simeunovich setting the tone for a collectively dominant pack with a typically hard-hitting, strong running display at loose forward.
It was Simeunovich who opened the scoring too, ploughing over on seven minutes after an early glimpse of Easts' potential for ill discipline ferried the Halifax side downfield.
Full back Brad Attwood, another player who was on top form throughout, kicked an astonishing conversion into the teeth of the gale that swept down the pitch for a 6-0 lead.
Siddal stretched their advantage to 8-0 on 20 minutes, former Wigan and Hull professional Danny Hill ending up in the sin bin as Easts' desperation to claw their way back into the forward battle turned into a steady stream of technical penalties.
Centre Chris Marsh looked to have added a second try on the half hour, big Mark Boothroyd palming Gudor's kick back for Marsh to score in the corner, only for the touchdown to be ruled out on the intervention of the touch judge.
The score stayed unchanged until just after the interval, Easts' centre Tommy Brett touching down in the right hand corner to cut the gap to 8-4.
The reigning champions proceeded to pile on the pressure, but it was Siddal who got the crucial score, winger Steve Hope scoring after Scott Caley tapped back Gudor's towering bomb.
Attwood, having missed a relatively simple penalty a few minutes earlier, found the composure to land the difficult conversion and Siddal were 10 points clear with a little over 20 minutes remaining.
Easts got one try back, through Mark Blanchard, but never really looked like getting another as Siddal shut up shop.
Gudor's drop goal nine minutes from the end effectively sealed the win, and the abiding memory of the closing stages was of Easts' increasingly unpleasant approach.
They had one man - Lee Roberts - sin-binned and were probably fortunate to finish with 12 men as the game threatened to boil over.
East Hull: Abdul; Haldenby, Brett, Coates, Painter; G. Blanchard, Hasty; Docherty, Weymes, Bassett, Johannsen, Hill, Yeaman. Subs: Pickering, Cator, Roberts, M. Blanchard
Siddal: Attwood; Blackburn, Marsh, Caley, Hope; Jones, Gudor; Wrigley, McCormack, Garnett, J. Simeunovich, Smith, L. Simeunovich. Subs: Birt, Hooson, Ambler, Boothroyd
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Weather for Halifax
Saturday 11 February 2012
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Temperature: -2 C to 0 C
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