Dewsbury secure first win since February to round off Summer Bash
Dewsbury held on to beat local rivals Batley for the third time in four attempts at the Summer Bash.
Paul Sykes’ penalty 10 minutes from time secured a welcome victory for the Rams, 20-18, their first win since February.
The win, which follows a credible 22-all draw at Halifax last week, moves them five points clear of the Championship drop zone.
It was a flat start to the final game at the Summer Bash, the noisy Swinton fans having vacated the seats behind the goal following their win over Rochdale.
Dewsbury would break the deadlock on 14 minutes as they moved the ball well for Aaron Brown to go over by the left of the posts.
There wasn’t much incident of note beyond that, Dave Scott taking a couple of towering Paul Sykes’ bombs, while a bit of niggle also disrupted the game at various points.
It was after a bit of niggle invoving Joel Farrell that resulted in a Dewsbury player being put on report. The very next tackle, James Harrison would take on a lovely delayed ball by Michael Ward to level things up at 6-all.
By now, much of the play was happening in the Dewsbury half of the field and they would fall behind right on the half-time hooter.
A new signing on loan from Bradford for Batley, Reiss Butterworth, darted out of dummy half and dummied his way over the line, Izaac Farrell adding the extras for 12-6 at the break.
The second half was far better fare, Dewsbury levelling things up within three minutes of the restart off the back of successive penalties, Samuel Day wriggling over for 12-all.
Batley’s brothers Izaac and Jake Farrell then combined to nudge the Bulldogs back in front, half-back Izaac delaying his pass well to find a strong running Jake on his left shoulder.
But on 55 minutes, Dewsbury would retake the lead. A switch left had broken down, but Daniel Igbinedion found some energy and space to come inside and burst a couple of tacklers to charge in under the posts from 20 metres out.
He would turn from hero to villain seconds later, allowing the Batley kick-off to bounce out, and that puts the Rams on the back foot. They were punished minutes later as Farrell added a penalty to level the scores again at 18-all.
Batley themselves would then make an error fielding the kick-off, gifting Dewsbury possession, but they managed to see out that threat, and the game turned in to a bit of an error-strewn contest for the next few minutes.
Dewsbury would be awarded a penalty on 70 minutes which Sykes duly converted to give them the lead that would eventually win them the game.
Batley tried their best to hit back in the dying stages, Brad Day held up over the line with five minutes to go, but to no avail.
Batley: Scott, Tomlinson, Smeaton, Galbraith, Crookes, Sowerby, I Farrell, Gledhill, Leak, Rowe, Bretherton, J Farrell, Day. Subs: Butterworth, Holland, Ward, Harrison.
Dewsbury: Guzdek, Potts, Glover, Hallett, Morton, Sykes, Brown, Wakeman, Speakman, Teanby, Trout, Knowles, Crowther. Subs: Day, Reilly, Everett, Igbinedion.