Percy Park 17 Blaydon 30
Park hosted it's first midweek floodlit game for the Academy to fulfil a cancelled fixture earlier in the season and what a cracker it was.
The lads were well up for this one having come so close recently, partly erasing the memory of two heavy defeats early season. The ability to finally put out a strong though not full strength side gave Park the confidence to believe that an upset could be on the cards. Both sides produced some exciting rugby that was a credit to colts rugby though Park got punished from their own mistakes by a good Blaydon side.
A 3 - 3 half time score was surprising as both sides battled well, Spowart with a penalty kick quickly cancelled out by a Blaydon drop goal. The game simmered at times but there was good honest endeavour from both sets of players, well refereed by Brian Callender.
The second half started poorly with Park conceding two scores quickly for 3 - 15. Worries that the floodgates might open were dispelled by a great forwards performance, particularly from line-out drives. Park got on to the front foot and Blaydon started to concede penalties resulting in Matty Atkinson crashing over from a quick tap penalty, converted by Spowart for 10 - 15. Unfortunately poor defence cost Park a try almost immediately for 10 - 20, and another through poor tackling made it 10 - 25. Still enjoying parity if not domination up front Park pressured Blaydon into more penalties and were rewarded with a penalty try for collapsing the driving maul close to the line with Birkett having the ball under good control. 17 - 25. Again having worked so hard to get back into the game Park knocked on on their own 22 with the ball being kicked through and touched down by the advancing Blaydon players. for 17 - 30. No further scores until the final whistle but a greatly improved performance by Park against one of the best sides in the area.
Final Score: Park 17 Blaydon 30
Man of the match: Matty Robson