ASHINGTON III 10 – 53 PERCY PARK PENGUINS
With autumn well under way and winter just round the corner, it was time for the Penguins to make their first appearance of the season, drawn in the first round of the no.5 cup away to Ashington 3s. A tough start, however there were quite a few new pairs of boots on display which suggested that this wasn't to be the last outing of the season.
The side had a great blend of youthful exuberance, middle aged quality, ageing experience and Gary Davy. Stu Denny , Chris Dunn, Andrew Clyde , Shaun Helme aka The Helmonator , Gav Yates , Reggie Dawson , Freddie Hill, Sam Walton , George Carr jnr. , Tony Turner , Mark Carr (capt. !!!!!) Patrick Swayze, Marcus Turner, Gary Davy, Singers and subs Paul (I'm suffering from chronic back pain but still prepared to go through the pain barrier for the lads) Jobson, Michael Borkett and Wez Casey.”Hall of Shame”, Andy Brack, Alex Giles, Chris Mcdine (again!!) , Dave Rusby, Rouven Snowdon and Gary Thorpe . Not considered, Fraser Cook after his disgraceful drinking performance last time out. Xxx
To the action. As always Ashington fielded a sizeable unit, however the Park front row dominated from the off . Helme and Dawson regularly supplied quality lineout possession and the impressive young Freddie Hill pounced on anything tapped to the Ashington side. With both sides attempting to assist the ref from the off, it was Parks half-backs who dictated the play . George Carr produced a performance that his dad Ian could only dream of, intelligence, pace, quality passing and aggression! His half back partner, Turner kicking territory off both feet and unleashing his backline at the right times; if only he'd brought his place kicking boots!
Some big trundles from hooker Dunn and centre , sorry , no8 Walton caught the eye as well as the support running of 46 year old Helme. To be fair , the game wasn’t all one way traffic and Ashington were rewarded for their effort with a long distant charge from one of their forwards after a Cherry’s howler and an unbelievable drop-goal effort by the young Ash’s ten from the Park ten metre line ! In the end Park ran out 53-10 winners, unfortunately Alzheimer’s has kicked in and I can't remember who scored but I know the team wasn’t interested in that it was the result that mattered. Sorry Carrsy.
Ponteland Vets await in Feb, however there might be a run out in December against the Marauders and a visit from Kelso Vets in January.