Northern 10 – 26 Percy Park

Percy Park maintained pole position in North 1 East with a bonus point win over league new boys Northern at McCracken Park. Park’s start to the season couldn’t have been better with two previous bonus point wins against Hartlepool Rovers and Morpeth, Northern on the other hand were looking for their first win, having lost narrowly last week away to Old Crossleyans.

Northern kicked off, and they had the best of early territorial advantage, but couldn’t break the Park defensive line. Both sides were trying to play adventurous and expansive rugby, but several handling errors often ended promising moves. It wasn’t until 20 minutes had elapsed that Alex Clark for the home side had the first chance to put points on the board with a penalty in front of the posts, which surprisingly he pulled right.

Northern continued to look more dangerous and open side Harrison Clark looked a handful, breaking several tackles on a couple of occasions, but the home side could capitalize. It was Park who scored after 26 minutes when left wing Ali Blair finished off a sweeping move hitting the corner flag in the act of scoring, but the Northern touch judge kept his flag down and the score was awarded, much to the disappointment of the home supporters and players. Ash Smith came close with the conversion attempt, but couldn’t add the extra points.

Percy Park 33 - 7 Morpeth

Morpeth made the short trip from Mitford Road to Preston Avenue, holding bragging rights having beaten Park in the last two matches of the previous season, one in the league and the other in the Northumberland Senior Cup. Both sides had enforced changes to the teams that won last week against Hartlepool Rovers and Old Crossleyans. Morpeth were missing number 8 Dawson through injury, and Park were missing Chris Reekie and George Purdy in the front row, Greg Dixon in the back row and David Griffiths in the centre. Their places were taken by Alan Blakey, Joe Wafer, Adam Fidler and Colin Murphy, who all staked their claim for 1^st XV places with fine performances in the convincing win.

 

Park kicked off into a strong wind, and the bright conditions, with the pitch in excellent nick, promised perfect conditions for running rugby. The home side had the first opportunity to get on the newly installed scoreboard, with a penalty attempt by Ash Smith after Morpeth were judged to be offside, but the kick was off target. Matthew Jinks then had a penalty kick which he pulled right of the posts, but the resulting drop out went straight into touch giving Morpeth an attacking scrum on the Park 22. It was from this, that Joe Forsythe scored the opening try of the game after a couple of phases saw the burly lock barge over on 10 minutes, and the Jinks conversion gave the visitors a 7 – 0 lead.

Hartlepool Rovers 8 – 44 Percy Park

With pre-season complete, Park travelled to the New Friarage to take on Hartlepool Rovers in the first league game of the 2010/11 North One East campaign. Conditions were good for a running game which suited the visitors, but the wind was tricky which made kicking difficult. Rovers kicked off with the wind at their backs, and in bright sunshine.

Early exchanges were scrappy with several knock ons from both sides, but Park were always more adventurous, and player coach James Ponton scored first for Park after 9 minutes after skipper John Scott had taken a quick tap penalty, he was stopped short of the line but from the resulting ruck Craig Fidler took the ball on and offloaded to Ponton for the try. With regular kicker Marcus Rutter absent, kicking duties fell to Ashley Smith, who had to take his first conversion attempt without a kicking tee, a salutary lesson to be prepared before kick off. The conversion hit the post and stayed out.

 

PERCY PARK 56 – 0 PONTELAND

Ponteland brought two squads to Preston Avenue in the final Saturday before the league season starts proper. Although neither side was at full strength as some key players took a break over the bank holiday weekend, the first encounters were fairly even. Park opened their account when full back Alan Barlow went over in the right hand corner after a break from Ash Smith set the move going. With regular kicker Marcus Rutter unavailable, Barlow assumed kicking duties, but was unsuccessful with his first attempt.