Dodworth Miners vs Upton a.r.l.f.c Play off Semi Final 7-9-2024

Yesterday saw us take on Upton for the 4th time this year. This was by far the most tense meeting with them of the year.

This was shown in the first ten minutes when Upton decided to go for two points twice as they were finding scoring very difficult. This was the pattern for the next 5 minutes as Dodworth were unable to build any pressure due to knock ons and penalties.

However at the 15 minute mark, Dodworth were finally able to build some pressure and Harry Harvey crossed the line to build to his already impressive try scoring tally. Joe Perry kicked the conversion.

Shortly after, Kieran Hyde was able to cross from acting half when a huge gap opened up allowing the Miners to go up by 8 as the conversion was successful.

Upton would not go away though and hit back when danger man Joe Jackson hit a nice line and broke the Miners’ defence. They were unable to convert the try taking the score to 12-8 to the Dodworth lads.

Dodworth were given a scrum and with a nice move from the training pitch were able to break away and Joe Ashworth ran 40 metres to score in the corner. Joe Perry again slotted the conversion taking the score to Dodworth 18 Upton 8.

Upton were not giving up though and with about 12 minutes to go they hit another beautiful line and scored to the left of the posts. This conversion was unsuccessful and the this left the Dodworth team up by 6 with about 10 minutes to go.

With 5 minutes to go, Dodworth got a penalty about 40 metres out and Joe Perry out his hand up to take it. Calmly, he slotted the penalty taking the Miners to a lead of 8 point and just out of reach of the Upton team.

This is how the match finished and now Dodworth move on to the final next week against Bramley Buffaloes. Bramley have had the upper hand in recent matches but in a final, we all know that anything can happen. The final will be held at The Millennium Stadium (Featherstone Rovers) and will kick off at 11:00am.