GAME OF TWO HALVES!
It’s an old expression but never more true than yesterday! Team as selected and the good news that we got three teams out yesterday.
So Guisborough arrived unbeaten so we knew we would be in for a hard game.
Gateshead started off well and had play in the Guisborough half. We had them under pressure in the scrums from the off. Two penalties form Scott Cartner put us in the lead 6-0.
We again at times tried to force the play instead of playing the phases and this resulted in us making mistakes and not making best use of the territorial advantage we had. Jamie Whitfield was off early with a shoulder injury so on came Matt Thomspon, slightly earlier than he would have hoped!!
After 27 minutes we got the ball in our half and it was moved out. Nathan Turner put out a long pass to Conner Anderson who made great space down the left and followed by a neat pass inside to Scott Cartner who raced away to score under the posts and convert himself. 13-0.
Another penalty saw us go in at half time 16-0 up.
Guisborough came out second half with a little more purpose and put pressure on us. Our tackling was excellent but eventually breaks will be made and they got two tries. 16-12. We had a period of pressure and were in their half twice. We pushed them off their own ball but didn’t take advantage and their 10 hoofed the ball down the park near to our line and they scored again. 16-19.
We then had Alex Surrey carded for a rather innocuous offence which was a bit harsh I thought. James Rodger was then red carded for attempting a flying tea cake when being held back. So down to 13 men.
The ref said the yellow still had 30 seconds to go whilst Alex had been off the field for about 13-14 minutes and it was another 5 minutes before there was a break down. The other two subs Reece dale & Dan Austin were on for Martin Pluskal & Scott Cartner.
They scored another two tries in the last 5 minutes to make the final score 16 -31. A score that flattered Guisborough to be quite honest. Having said that they deserved their win and whilst our tackling was good throughout tiredness inevitably creeps in and gaps appear and they took their chances.
We didn’t take advantage of our scrum dominance and when you win several balls against the head you must take advantage of it & we didn’t.
Everyone played their part and we can’t complain about the effort but it was a proper game of rugby and I’m sure we will learn from it. I forgot to ask who got MOM but no doubt someone will tell us.
Hartlepool away next week.
