Morpeth Edwardians 3 - Percy Park Lions 18
Park travelled to Mitford Road in good spirits after a good performance in defeat against a strong Tyndale Grasshopper side the previous week . As is the norm , the Lions had several changes from that side but still looked a strong outfit on paper. Pollock and Fiddler returned from 1st XV bench duty, Walton returned to the centre with Cinema Phil starting on the wing. Bartle covered the bench with Austin and Biggins preferring to get match time with the Pumas and Shaye finding himself being flown back to New Zealand !
The game started at a high tempo , with the home side playing a physical 10 man approach and Park on the other hand opting to play a wider faster game . It was Park that settled the better of the two and were soon stretching their older opponents . An early penalty attempt was missed , but Park soon took the lead with a try and conversion by Spowett . The confident youngster then knocked over a penalty as Park looked to take control . Centre Murphy , who again made several strong runs, added a second try to make the half-time score 15-0 .
This was a disappointing return for 40 minutes of dominance. Park had negated their opposition with some strong defence and forced Morpeth into numerous handling errors . The threat of Morpeths powerful number 8 was stopped by great work by Mutch , Wafer , Fiddler , Murphy and Walton , with Pollock very prominent in the loose . With Dawson and Fiddler were dominating the line-out, Park really should have been out of sight .
The half-time turn around saw a complete reversal of events . Morpeth came up with renewed vigour and pinned Park back in their own 22 . Strong defence and sloppy handling from Morpeth kept the home side out. Parks Jekyll and Hyde character re-surfaced and whilst the line held firm Park completely lost their shape . A couple of injuries in the forwards and backs meant that the team had to re-shuffle but their inability to adapt to this, play patiently and read the game unfolding before them prevented Park from making any real impact on the opposition . The sides exchanged penalties and the final score saw Park victorious 18-3, completing the 3 wins against Morpeth in one day.
Park entertain Alnwick 2nds next week . A repeat of the character shown in the second half against Tynedale and the enterprise shown in the first from yesterday is being called for by Coach Jobson as this new side continues its league programme .