U14s – UNLUCKY MOWDEN JUST EDGED OUT

Straight from the start the Mowden players made it clear that there was to be no repeat of last week’s error strewn match. The return of Joe Craggs and Max Harrison to the loose forwards seemed to lift the whole team’s performance and tackling was fierce against a much larger and heavier West pack.

Mowden dominated the first half playing mainly in the West 22. An early opportunity saw John Payne go close to the left hand corner but good covering defence from West bundled him into touch yards from the line.

Despite the large weight disadvantage in the scrum the tight five of Simon Shepherd, James McClintock, Alfie Wilson, Sam Lorimer and Mike Hall won sufficient ball under pressure to set up a number of chances. Unfortunately, a couple of easy penalties gave West the chance to relieve the pressure. Although West had a taller line Joe and Tom Lawson stole several of West’s line-outs to keep Mowden going forward.

Mowden looked dangerous all half. Mark Harsley, playing at full back, burst into the line a number of times going close at least twice. In the middle both Jonny Teague and Tamer Fuat had the drop on their opposite numbers and made good breaks gaining a lot of ground each time. Towards the end of the half Mark Wilson put in a good kick behind the West defence and Aidan Smith, starting for the first time, nearly scored in the right hand corner.

West were really struggling against ferocious tackling and even when they won the ball, were unable to gain any ground as forwards and backs alike put in the work to keep West penned back forcing errors from West as they strove desperately to make any headway.

In fact Mowden deserved to and should have gone into the break at least two scores up. However, white line fever got the best of promising attacks when Mowden had men over and the ball was held too long instead of committing the man and then releasing. As a result the half-time whistle blew with no score on the board

Half Time Mowden 0, West Hartlepool 0

The Hartlepool half-time talk must have been effective because they came out firing on all cylinders and soon the Mowden line was under pressure. The weight advantage in the set scrum began to tell and Gordon Thompson did well to wrestle the ball out of a pack being pushed back. However the Mowden defence was terrific and West were unable to break through.

West used their big forwards to drive into Mowden, at times helped by some minor infringements and harsh decisions. Nevertheless Mowden’s tackling and commitment prevailed and their line remained unbreached as time after time West were held up on the line or Mowden’s tacklers turned the attacker and Max, Tom, Joe or Mike ripped the ball away to prevent a score. In the scrum James came off and Dominic Gibson came on to add more power to the front row. Finally, the number of penalties began to tell and with10 minutes left to play West crashed over the line for an unconverted try.

Mowden pushed forward with Ryan Hall adding further strength to the pack but despite more possession and good running, Mowden were unable to close the gap. In the last play of the game a good passing movement set Tamer free down the left but he was tackled into touch and the final whistle blew.

Final Score: Mowden Park 0 West Hartlepool 5

It was a fine performance and one of which to be proud. The passion and commitment was all anyone could have asked for. However, if we want to beat the best teams like Durham and West Hartlepool (and we can do that) we have to make absolutely sure that we take the two or three clear chances that we get in tight games.

Training next Sunday as Middlesbrough have pulled out of the game then home to Stockton the following week.