Ponteland were faced with an unusual site on Saturday - lush grass on Gateshead's pitch!. The team build up was disrupted as Chris Freer had to leave 15 minutes before kick off as his new born baby was rushed back into hospital. The reshuffle saw Adam McGLashan start and Rob Charlton dash from the Toon game to sub. Pont started brightly and an early Will Newbigin penalty made it 3-0 after 3 minutes. Gateshead replied from the kick off with a penalty of their own 3-3. A quick run out of defence saw Murphy, Maughan and Searle make inroads as Pont pushed the game. A strike against the head saw the scrum going well. The home team were fighting back and a last ditch Searle tackle prevented a score. On 20 minutes a dominant scrum won a penalty and Pont kicked for touch. A catch and drive saw the home team smashed back 25 metres for Harrison to score. Handbags lead to a yellow for each side. As Pont looked to build up a head of steam an innocuous tackle saw Jonny Murphy land awkwardly and dislocate his shoulder. Scott Anderson came on as Pont reshuffled again. Pont continued to catch and drive line outs as Gateshead defended in numbers. A 5 metre penalty saw Pont drive the home team over the try line but the ball was disrupted and another penalty awarded. A repeat of the drive happened and as Pont went over the line another penalty was awarded. Pont again drove the home team backwards but were penalised. The earlier yellows allowed Paddy Douglas wearing his mafia style glasses to score a point against your intrepid reporter. Unfortunately as Paddy couldn't see this cast iron penalty try I turned down the use of his glasses as he clearly hadn't been to Specsavers!!
The let off sparked life into the home team and with the last play of the half they pushed forward and scored a try to make it 8-8 at half time.
The try seemed to invigorate Gateshead who came out fired up and were held up over the line from the kick off. Another attack saw a speculative long pass thrown out with Scott Anderson just failing to intercept it. The home crowd did well influencing the decision with Anderson yellow carded. The penalty put them in the lead 11-8. Further disruption occurred as Cam Bell limped off as McGawley and Charlton joined the fight. Even with the changes Pont’s scrum looked to dominate and as they drove Gateshead backward a penalty was awarded to the home team. As the ball was moved wide a gap appeared allowing a try to make it 18-8. Pont immediately replied as Nick Townsend made several penetrating runs and only a dropped pass prevented Searle breaking clear. Pont were picking and driving with gusto as Gateshead's desperate defending resulted in two yellow cards. Pont eventually drove another20 metre line out with Stu Weir Scoring 18-13. Hoping to finish on a high Pont unfortunately fell foul of the referee who awarded 4 successive penalties to Gateshead. Fortunately for the visitors Gateshead failed to convert any of the kicks, all of which looked reasonable opportunities as Pont limped away with a bonus point.

Whilst the result was disappointing the continuingly increasing injury list is reaching a crisis point for performance and confidence. With a run of hard games it really is all hands to the pump for Ponteland

Ponteland RFC

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