Parr Hare & Hounds 12

Salem Hornets 12 HOUNDS finally broke their duck for the season with this hard-fought draw against fellow strugglers Salem but they will regard this as a point lost rather than a point won.

Once again let down by a number of absent players, Hounds made a bad start when the visitors grabbed a converted try in the opening minutes.

The homesters hit back, though, and dominated played for a 20-minute period without being able to turn pressure into points. And when Salem scored a second try, against the run of play, to make it 10-nil, another defeat seemed to be beckoning.

ATTACK

To their credit, though, Hounds stuck to their task and they finally got on the scoresheet just before the interval with a try by prop Karl Grounds, converted by centre Kevin Parylo.

The second half started with Hounds on the attack and they took the lead for the first time when good work by Grounds and scrum-half Paul Martin ended with the latter claiming a well-deserved touchdown to the left of the posts which Parylo converted to make it 12-10.

From this point Hounds should have gone on to claim the spoils but handling errors at vital stages cost them dearly and Salem grew in confidence to mount a determined onslaught in the final quarter. Determined defence kept them at bay, however, and all they had to show for their efforts was a penalty to tie the scores.

Martin and Grounds were outstanding for Hounds along with second-row Ian Sherwood, loose-forward Jason Lawrenson, centre Ray Nield and substitute Paul Thompson.