Blaydon 46

Cinderford 5

ON a dreich day there was little to warm the cockles for the few fans who had ventured out until an injury delayed proceedings by eight minutes .

That was after 26 minutes, when Blaydon trailed 5-3 and clearly needed a spark. Perhaps the injury break gave them time to re-focus, but it seemed more likely that the half-time pep talk and changes of personnel provided the real impetus.

After losing four of the previous five, they needed to win well against the Forest of Dean visitors, who are deep in the woods next to the bottom of National One, and in the second half it was one-way traffic.

The presence of on-loan Newcastle Falcons full back Tom Catterick undoubtedly helped as he provided plenty of encouragement as well as showing his class in attack and defence.

He and fellow Falcon, Tom Penny, often injected real pace, but the game was won up front, with four of the seven tries stemming from catch-and-drives.

It was unfortunate for young flanker Matthew Jenkinson that his team-mates didn't provide more support for his wholehearted efforts in the 26 minutes he was on the field.

After he was stretchered off it transpired that his injury was not as bad as feared, but it could be some time before he gets another chance, especially with Jason Smithson ready for a comeback.

With Shaun English going off the bench into the second row, skipper Keith Laughlin reverted to blind side and it probably helped the balance of the back row.

What would be more encouraging for coach Micky Ward was that when he decided to retire from the fray at half-time his two young props, Trevor Davison and Andrew Foster, achieved impressive dominance.

While they look certainties for relegation, Cinderford did have some pace in the backs and after kicking an eighth-minute penalty Catterick had to put in two try-saving tackles.

When winger Tom Jeffrey's instinctive attempt to intercept brought the inevitable penalty for a deliberate knock-on Cinderford kicked to the corner and drove over for a try.

But as Blaydon adopted the same tactic, the visitors had to resort to collapsing mauls and it appeared to be in one of those that Jenkinson was hurt.

The penalty was kicked to touch and after the illegal halting of two catch-and drive attempts a penalty try was awarded, allowing Catterick the first of his four conversions.

Shortly afterwards Penny and winger Tom Bramwell attacked up the left then scrum half James Christie scampered into space on the blind side of a ruck and sent Jeffery over, the winger having crossed from the opposite wing.

That made it 15-5 at half-time and the second half domination was sparked by a cross-kick from Andrew Baggett, which Jeffery caught on the full to take play deep into enemy territory.

Blaydon pressure resulted in a yellow card for the visitors and when three penalties were awarded in quick succession lock Chris Wearmouth tapped the third one and drove over in the corner.

Until that point there was still the chance of a tight contest, but a minute later it was all over. From the restart the ball was moved left to centre Toby Bain, who cut inside one tackle, brushed off another and had a clear run to the posts.

After another sin-binning for Cinderford and two more catch-and-drive tries for flanker Harry Bate, the final insult for the visitors came when a cross-kick intended for their right winger was gathered by Bramwell, who raced home.

In the last two seasons Blaydon have put together lengthy winning runs at this time of year and they will hope their second half romp sparks another one.