REPORT | Goole Vikings 14 Dons 36

The Dons finished the regular Betfred Championship season with a local derby win over Goole Vikings at the Victoria Pleasure Grounds.

Richard Horne's side edged the first half as a contest on the road and thoroughly deserved to lead at half time thanks to tries from Watson Boas and Cory Aston.

Jacob Jones, Brad Knowles, Edene Gebbie and Bureta Faraimo all added further tries in the second half to see the Dons take another two points in the second half, despite a frantic final 20 minutes of the game.
Horne made six changes to the side that swept past and beat Sheffield Eagles on home soil six days earlier, with Brad Hey, James Glover, Boas, Isaac Misky, Sam Smeaton and Jones all handed spots inside the starting XIII.
The Dons started well in DN14 and went close on a number of occasions to the side of the posts in the opening minutes of the game after two penalties, but an immediate score eluded them.
However, on nine minutes, the visitors took the lead. Misky provided a great, tricking run to bamboozle the Goole line and then handed off to Boas on the tackle, who then sprinted away through the centre to score beneath the uprights. Aston added the extras.
The two sides cancelled each other out over the course of the next 20 minutes, with play stopping on three separate occasions for an extended amount of time due to treatment being required for players.
But after 22 minutes, the Vikings' captain Brett Ferres was sin-binned for ten minutes and left the Dons with an opportunity to extend their lead six minutes later.
After soaking up an initial spell of Goole attacking pressure, Horne's men put together a brilliant passing move between a number of players, and Aston was eventually the man in yellow and blue to score to the right. Aston converted.
Bureta Faraimo went close to furthering the away side's advantage in the closing minutes of the first half, but the winger dropped the football on the left wing short of the line.
The Dons continued to look for another score before the half time hooter, however the scoreline continued to read 0-12 after the opening 40 minutes.
Goole looked to have scored and got themselves on the scoresheet five minutes after the restart through Tom Halliday in the left-hand corner, but the referee ruled the apparent try out and then showed Ollie Morgan a yellow card to send the Vikings' number 14 to the sin bin.
Horne's men again capitalised on the hosts' ill discipline and scored their third try of the day on 49 minutes. Tom Whitehead powered his way towards the line on the left and then handed to Jacob Jones at the last, on the tackle, who spun around to cross into the goal area and score. Aston added the extras again. 0-18.
The Dons continued to ramp up and apply the pressure on the Goole defensive line with their man advantage to hand and went over for another try four minutes later. Edene Gebbie showed quick feet to glide his way through the Vikings' pack, and the full back looked certain to ground, only for Knowles to finish the move off after an act of unselfishness that saw the ball handed to him deep inside the goal area. Aston converted again.
Smeaton was sin-binned for the Dons on the hour mark after a high and late tackle.
The Vikings then took advantage of their one-man advantage on 61 minutes and got themselves on the scoresheet through a Josh Guzdeck score to the left. Jack Miller added the extras.
The game erupted into an end-to-end contest from that point and juncture as Gebbie went over underneath the woodwork with a breakaway try. Aston added the extras again. 6-30.
Two minutes later, the hosts found their second try of the day as another former-Dons player, Tom Halliday, found his way in at the left-hand corner.
But the Dons responded with another try of their own after 71 minutes. Gebbie spun a smart pass out wide to the left, where Faraimo collected and slid in to score. Aston converted again.
The final try and point-scoring action of the afternoon went the way of the home side, though, as Callum Rutland found the line to the right-hand side of the uprights.
Both sides looked to add a further score in the remaining time left of the final 80 minutes of the regular season, but the scoreline at the full time hooter read 14-36 to give the Dons an 11th win in 12 games.
Dons: Gebbie, Briscoe, Hey, Glover, Faraimo, Boas, Aston, Knowles, Misky, Matagi, Smeaton, Johnson, J. Jones. Interchanges: McConnell, Baldwinson, C. Jones, Whitehead.