Two-try Tate makes Darlington sweat

DARLINGTON moved up to third place in North One East, but they cannot yet be considered serious promotion contenders.

They had several players missing, but so did Gateshead, who are third from the bottom and almost snatched victory after trailing 24-0 with 30 minutes left.

The Darlington forwards had to shove the ball up their jumpers to hang on during five minutes of added time, but even then Gateshead broke out from their own line at the death and raced past halfway before star man David Tate was bundled into touch and the final whistle went.

Normally a full back, twotry Tate was easily the sharpest centre on view, although Darlington showed no faith in their threequarters.

They preferred to launch turbo-charged prop Dave Tunstead through the centre, or rely on lock Bill Smith or No 8 Colin Rogers to make progress round the fringes.

All are difficult to knock down, particularly Tunstead, whose low-slung shorts sit comfortably on a low centre of gravity atop a surprisingly athletic pair of legs.

Playing with the benefit of a strong wind, a 10-0 lead looked nothing like enough until Tunstead burst down the middle and off-loaded for skipper Lee Richardson to slide over by the posts just before half-time.

When the visitors handed Darlington a third try five minutes after the break it looked all over, but the loss of lock Steve Taylor with a knee injury meant their already limited line-out resources were further depleted.

Scrum half Sean Richardson, whose excellent service was largely wasted, also retired because of a hamstring twinge and the tide began to turn.

That meant the only Richardson on the field, Lee, was the one not selected. But he returned from a month’s injury absence at fly half when his brother Dave had to cry off.

If they ever manage to field all three brothers together Darlington might have a backline to match their sturdy pack. But on this occasion makeshift centre Matthew Brown was given no chance to show his paces, although he did prove an able deputy for goal-kicker Nick Baldwin.

He opened the scoring with a penalty after five minutes, which ultimately made the difference as both teams converted their three tries.

Smith drove for the line and Taylor finished off Darlington’s first try, and Lee Richardson started and finished the second, having set up the attacking position through an excellent kick.

For the second time Gateshead’s restart failed to travel ten metres and at this stage they appeared to have little to offer.

They also left themselves facing a steep incline when they over-ran a fairly innocuous kick, allowing Darlington winger Tony Taylor to regain possession.

He stood up well in the tackle and off-loaded to Alex Lineton, who made ground before the ball was moved left for winger Sean McCartney to score.

The fightback began five minutes later when Tate slipped through to score under the posts. A lengthy period of tedium followed before visiting fly half Alex Tilley jinked past several tackles to send hooker Damien Douglas over.

Then in the 80th minute Tate was stopped just short after an attack up the left, but was quickly back in position to take the ball on the burst and go under the posts.

The home forwards then ran the clock down very efficiently until they lost the ball and allowed Gateshead one final, futile fling.