Halifax 30-6 York: Panthers win two in a row with convincing home triumph

Halifax Panthers recorded their second straight victory on Sunday afternoon, moving them up to fourth in the RFL Championship standings.
Simon Grix, Halifax RLFC coachSimon Grix, Halifax RLFC coach
Simon Grix, Halifax RLFC coach

In a game that saw the Panthers dominate from start to finish, it needed four tries in the last half an hour to take the game away from their opponents.

Buoyed by last week’s home victory against Sheffield, the Panthers were on the board early through Ben Kavanagh, after good work from Scott Grix and Liam Harris.

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Ten minutes later, Halifax doubled their advantage after a Harris grubber kick was picked up by Matt Garside, who span over the line to score.

Harris took kicking duties after Connor Robinson was ruled out of the game through injury, and he was on target from the conversion to add the extras.

Although the Panthers pressed for a third before the break, they were held up by the determined York defence, who prevented any further damage before the hooter.

The second half began in the worst possible fashion for the home side, as an error from James Saltonstall was punished by the Knights, who went over to cut the gap to 10-6.

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The Panthers immediately went on the offensive, looking to add to their two scores and roared on by a noisy home crowd.

More excellent work from Scott Grix resulted in a grubber kick, on which Nick Rawsthorne pounced to open daylight on the scoreboard.

Moments later, the Panthers scored once more Brandon Moore raced onto a Grix pass to go over the line.

A breathless five minutes saw a third Halifax score, as yet another excellent Grix pass found Saltonstall, who touched down at the corner to give the Panthers a seemingly unassailable lead of 26-6.

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Despite the one York try, there was no doubting the Panthers’ dominance throughout the game, and more scores could have followed as the last ten minutes ticked down.

With four minutes to play, Adam Tangata raced powerfully onto yet another Grix pass and sealed an excellent day at the office for the Panthers.

With seconds to play, York’s Jordan Baldwinson was sin binned for elbowing Amir Bourrouh’s head, with the youngster also shown yellow for his reaction.

Fax saw out the final few seconds with ease, to record a convincing 30-6 victory.