The sun certainly had its hat on yesterday at Preston Avenue , Hawaiian shirts and a flaming bbq would have been a better accompaniment to the weather as temperatures soared . Percy Park Lions entertained there namesakes from Alnwick in a Candy League encounter .
Park were keen to build on last weeks victory over Northern , but expected a much tougher encounter against an Alnwick side which sat top of the table after victories in their opening two matches . As is the norm , there were several changes to last weeks side and the following players pulled on the famous black and white shirt ; Nairn , Pollock , Kidd , Saint , Phillips , Sanderson , Webber , Lenahan , Gilmore , Dale , Sim , Jobson , Danilli , Thomas , Gould , subs , Casey , Dryden , Mcdine , Kay .
Unfortunately , Pollock suffered an injury in the warm up enforcing a change that saw Captain Lenahan slot into the front row and Kidd taking over the arrows . Little did the players realise that when the referee blew his whistle to start the game at 3o'clock , it would be 35 minutes before a point was scored and 56 minutes before his whistle ended the half . In fact the only action of note in the first five minutes involved veteran Park fullback Gould , who limped off the pitch purely and simply to enjoy the afternoons proceedings from the touch line . Gilmore moved to full back and the well holidayed figure of Kay took over at 9 .
The first points were scored from an Alnwick boot . 0-3 . It looked very much like that would be the halftime score , but after defending resolutely for the first 45 minutes , Park suddenly came alive . Alnwick tried to clear their lines , but the kick only went upwards and was taken by Thomas . A long pass to Jobson in midfield saw the young centre suck in the opposition and then deliver the perfect pass to Sim to round his opposite number cut inside the full back and then power through another to score . The conversion was taken by a rather grumpy Danilli who wasn't happy at having to go old school , ie heel into the ground , but we saw a little glimmer of a smile when the conversion sailed between the posts . 7-3 . Surely the whistle would go now ? Nope , on we went . From the restart , Sam Warren went on the charge . Brushing aside two / three tackles , then offloading to the supporting Kay on the Alnwick 10 metre line . Despite it being a long run to the line for the sizeable veteran , the lie of the land was totally in his favour and the scrum half powered downhill to score . 12-3 . And , to the relief of all concerned , the halftime whistle !!
Alnwick were shell shocked . Park started the second half how they finished the first and set up camp in and around the visitors 22 . The line was eventually breached after Park had initially kicked a penalty to touch . The initial catch and drive was stopped just short . The forwards kept the momentum going and it was Captain Fantastic Lenahan who went over for the third try . 17-3 .
Both sides were making numerous errors now , as the scorching heat started to take its toll and personally I wished I had gone with the factor 30 instead of 20 . Both sides gave it one more go . Alnwick worked their way into the Park 22 . But resolute defence kept them out , even after Warren was yellow carded for hands in the tuck . The fourteen men worked their way upfield . Eventually , Alnwick ran out of numbers and the space opened up for Jobson to score under the posts . The conversion was good and the victory was Parks . 24-3 .
Great to see Mark Carr running touch today , well , when he wasn't tweeting away on his phone and Josh Lake for actually turning up and being sober . The lions travel to Morpeth next week , more of the same lads .