A some what late report this week due to both work commitments and the fact i have just got over seeing a nightmare of a game that should have seen Ripon climb to joint second but sadly leaves us sixth . On the bright side we are still only three points off second place and all the top teams still have to visit Mallorie Park in the coming weeks .

Where to start is the question on Saturday . Conditions were far from ideal , but were the same for both teams so no excuses from that . Oxenhope are in good form but so were we . The simple fact is that it was just not to be Ripons day . We lost 3-2 but can make amends starting on Saturday .

Oxenhope were certainly well up for the game and could easily have been three up in the first ten minutes . The woodwork , Mark Rimmer and the head of Matt McGlinchey kept the scores at 0-0 in the opening stages . After that the hosts started to get a foothold in the game and came very close to taking the lead when Luke Robinson went close . However you expected that something had to give and it was a case of fourth time very lucky . A good run from the impressive Moriarty saw a hopeful ball aimed into the box . However the ball cannoned of the leg Tim Edney giving Mark Rimmer no chance .

The half ended with Ripon trailing by a single goal and very much still in it . Ben Cohen got the team back into it when he converted a good shot within minutes of the restart . Were we back in it ? Sadly not !! Oxenhope again took the lead in bizarre fashion . A throw in went over everyone’s head . Somehow missed Mark Rimmer and out of nowhere an Oxenhope player had a simple tap in on the line . The Ripon defence stared in disbelief and the ‘Bench’ were at a loss how to explain that one .

Again a lifeline was thrown as Tom Leeming was felled in the area and Daz Simpson made no mistake from the spot . Was this to be the end of the scoring , were Ripon to grap a late and possibly undeserved winner ? You guessed it , no again . Ripon failed to deal with a ball played up to the centre forward . He was able to turn and fire past Mark in the Ripon goal . Sadly that was to be the end of the scoring and despite a late free kick that was turned over the bar it was the visitors that left with all three points .

So what started out to be such a day of promise ended on a rather sour note . But lets not take anything away from Oxenhope . In Daniel Moriarty they have one of the most skillful forwards in the League . Added to this the aggression of Ben White in midfield and with the hard working Garnett upfront they will certainly turn many more fancied teams over before the season is done . Well done to the visitors and see you next year !!

So what of Ripon . Well after the free flowing football of previous weeks this was certainly back down to earth with a bump. No doubt Charlie and Paul will be pointing out what went wrong before our next match against Sherburn at the weekend . Football is like that and in this league there are no easy matches . So lets not dwell to much on this one and concentrate on getting back on track with a good result on Saturday . There is still lots to play for and while Beeston may be sitting pretty at the top only three points separate the next five places . And BOTH teams still have Cup Finals to look forward to .