Blaydon turn the tables

IN the battle to be the North-East's second club Blaydon narrowed the gap on Mowden Park to three points in National Division Three North.

The balance of power has not shifted totally to the Tyne as Mowden missed three penalties they would normally expect Kevan Oliphant to kick and they still trailed only 15-11 midway through the second half.

They then cut their own throats by losing the ball when trying to run from inside their own 22 and promptly conceded two converted tries.

Even then they had a chance to snatch victory at the death, but the scoreline was a fair reflection of an absorbing contest in which Mowden lacked the cutting edge which has undone Blaydon in the past.

The match was watched by former Gosforth and West Hartlepool lock Kevin Westgarth, a possible candidate to be Mowden's next coach, although they would probably prefer a backs specialist. Westgarth currently coaches Scunthorpe, who were without a game on Saturday.

It rarely looked like being Mowden's day after Oliphant, their saviour in the last derby match against West Hartlepool, pushed two straightforward chances to the right in the opening 20 minutes.

He then handed over to Mark Bedworth, who also missed just after half-time when the score was 10-6.

On the credit side, Bedworth again looked very assured at full back and there was another lively display from scrum half Richard Holborough.

If there was any ill feeling following the defection of three Mowden players to Blaydon it surfaced only very briefly when Tasi Tuhana went on for the last half hour.

The first time he drove into his old colleagues there was an incident which required the referee to issue a few calming words.

Jonny Golightly also went on five minutes later and put in one big hit but had little chance to show his paces.

Blaydon's two classiest acts, full back Gareth King and fly half James Lofthouse, both had a decisive influence after making undistinguished starts, while new winger James Tyrrell proved a handful.

After an early miss by Oliphant, Blaydon got on top, and despite the efforts of Darren McKinnon to repel them hooker Phil Ritson was stopped just short before Lofthouse kicked an 18th minute penalty.

Bedworth replied then Blaydon scored a good try on the half hour, moving the ball right then left before King, standing off a ruck in the corner, barged his way over.

Bedworth landed a well-struck penalty from 40 metres then a long pass from Mark Wilkinson put Mowden winger Steve Jones away but Nick Gandy came across to tackle.

Mowden finished the first half on top and might have scored after Tim Wilks deftly picked up a loose ball to launch an attack up the right. But Wilkinson was unable to hold on to an inside pass.

Ten minutes after the interval King shrugged off two tackles from a scrum 30 metres out and sent Tyrrell over.

But Mowden had the gap down to four points when they ran two penalties and with the Blaydon defence pulled out of position Wilkinson had a clear run to the line.

When Holborough made a long break from a tap penalty things were looking good for Mowden, but five minutes later they were 18 points down.

The dropped pass on their own 22 allowed Tuhana to snap up the ball and right winger James O'Malley scored.

Then Blaydon mounted a powerful forward drive and when the ball came back Lofthouse glided smoothly through a kink in the Mowden defence to score by the posts and added his third conversion.

Mowden came back strongly at the end. With hard-working Blaydon flanker Charlie Roe sin-binned for disputing a decision, they opted for a scrum when a penalty was awarded five metres out and a half break by Mick Kent put Chris Mattison over.

Chris Strong went on for Wilkinson and scored in the fourth minute of injury time after a powerful burst by Kent when King was penalised for a high tackle.

Bedworth converted and on the restart Holborough broke away and linked with the full back in a move which briefly threatened to bring Mowden's third successive one-point victory.

But the ball went to ground and the final whistle blew