NEARLY A COMEBACK.
Team as selected away to Houghton. A number of changes with unavailability.
Last week was hot but bearable but yesterday was very humid as well as hot and I was sweating just watching!
We had the best of the early exchanges and nearly scored when Charlie Green was bundled into touch in the corner. We kept up the pressure and after some good support work between backs and forwards Dan McKay looked like he might score but was tackled just short but he pooped the ball to Kellen Reah who was in support for a good score. Conversion missed. 5-0.
We continued to be on the front foot but there were signs that we were rushing at times and passes were dropped or missed. However we nearly scored again and one of their guys was yellow carded. Ross kicked the penalty 8-0.
Houghton were getting more into the game and were in our half. Connor Anderson jumped for a ball in the air with both hands but knocked on. Deliberate said the ref and a penalty to them. They moved the ball and an outrageous forward pass saw them make good ground and came back infield where some very poor tackling from Gateshead saw them score a try & convert 5-7.
They got a penalty on half time and kicked it to go in at the break winning by 10-8.
Houghton came out on the front foot and we had a couple of injuries by this time and were having to swap players around on and off then pitch which left us a bit short on support and mobility.
Houghton got a scrum penalty and took another scrum and moved the ball and a couple of missed tackles let them in for a try and converted 8-17 to them.
We had a good few attacks out of our half but after making good ground we either dropped it gave a poor pass or were lacking in support and therefore didn’t get near the try line.
Houghton got another as a result of about four missed tackles and converted to make it 8-24.
By now there was only about 5 minutes left and to be quite honest the spectators had given up hope of getting anything out of the game. However the lads never gave up and had a good few goes at attack in their half and a quick penalty and pass saw Ross Craig go through a gap to score and convert, 15-24.
Straight back on the attack from the kick off and again some quick thinking saw Kellen Reah race on for a try converted by Ross. The ref gave Gateshead a penalty on the half way line as a late tackle was after the try was scored. 22-24.
Time was just about up and Ross had a go at kicking the penalty from the half way line but fell just short. They kicked off and we ran possession and Stephen Waddle had a go at a drop goal but fell just short.
We got possession again and a kick into the corner was made with the Gateshead lads in chase into the dead ball area and their defender batted the ball out of play with his hand which is a penalty offence. The ref didn’t see it and blew the whistle for full time.
So we got a point we didn’t look like getting and we might have won it in the end. Did we deserve to win? Probably not. We didn’t score more points when wee on top in the first half. We made too many mistakes when trying to attack from or half. Because of injuries on the day we were lacking in some mobility and support when it was needed.
However I can’t fault the lads spirit by fighting to the end to get something out of the game that looked impossible with about 5 minutes to go.
Hopefully players back next week for Whitby at home.
Paddy Douglas