Saturday, 24th February 2007, Grayfields
A miserable day for Tech and its supporters, made doubly so by the news that Novocastrians had leapfrogged them into second place courtesy of their win at home to Seaton Carew. Triply so if you count the fact that Chris Metcalfe’s winning try came in the 80th minute, just when Tech thought they had emerged from the contest with a point.
This was a highly compelling and passionate encounter. Wallsend’s magnificent travelling army of fans coupled with the usual vociferous home support made for a cracking atmosphere at Grayfields, the like of which had not been seen since the days when Tech plied their trade in the old North East divisions. Tech enjoyed some memorable victories during those times but sadly they could not add the scalp of the current league leaders to the memory bank and, when looking back on the game, they will reluctantly admit that their visitors were fully worth their victory. Barring a string of contorted, arithmetic improbabilities in the run in, Wallsend’s re-established six point cushion means their title is as certain as night following day.
Although Tech’s defence throughout the game was nothing short of Herculean, Andrew Thompson in particular enjoying possibly his finest game in a Tech shirt, the hosts offered little in terms of attack, such was the dominance of Wallsend. The Tynesiders spent numerous spells camped within the Tech 22 probing away at the blue wall in front of them. By contrast, Tech failed to register any sustained pressure on the Wallsend line, their best scoring opportunity coming when Phil Wallis lofted a cross field kick for Richard Foster from all of 30 metres out. The prolific winger overrunning the ball at the crucial moment.
Player/coach Michael Parker refused to be too downbeat in his post-match assessment. “Had we won today it would have been a nice bonus but nothing more. The key game for us is against Novocastrians in a few weeks time.
“I cannot fault any of the players for effort. Everyone gave their all but unfortunately we were up against a highly competent outfit”.
Parker is right about the Novocastrians game on the 17th of March but another game that Tech will have to concentrate on is next week’s game against Seaton. Local derbies can be notoriously difficult to win and any slip up in that game could prove fatal to Tech’s promotion plans.
Tech would do well to emulate Wallsend’s play in the upcoming games as the Tynesiders gave a perfect demonstration of how to dominate possession and territory. For the opening half an hour of this game, Tech could not get out of their own 22, let alone their own half. Wallsend’s efficient pack, which included the highly impressive Andy Barnfather, controlled possession superbly and only brilliant Tech defence prevented the visitors from opening up a substantial lead.
Wallsend did take the lead in the opening minute. Tech failed to gather Peter Hamil’s kick off and after Wallsend established a ruck on the Tech 22, the ball was passed back to Hamil who slotted a neat drop goal.
The same player made it 6 nil after 25 minutes with a penalty following more dominant play from his team. Phil Wallis came tantalisingly close to pulling three points back for Tech when he hit the post with a 45-metre penalty only a minute later. This precipitated Tech’s most controlled phase of the first half in which they finally managed to gain some territory and possession. This resulted in another penalty on 36 minutes. Wallis made amends for his earlier miss to reduce the deficit to three points. The same player should have pulled Tech level 2 minutes into injury time when Tech made another fine break into the Wallsend half. But Wallis, by his own standards, executed the kick poorly to leave his team adrift at the half. Although missed penalties are always a talking point in the advent of a close defeat, it would be utterly churlish to say this contributed to Tech’s loss.
Tech levelled the game shortly after the resumption of play after more encouraging advances from the Tech pack. It seemed that the tide was turning with Wallsend looking uncharacteristically rattled. Perhaps Tech would prevail after all?
Perhaps not. Under serious pressure for the first time Wallsend regrouped and reasserted their dominance with some purposeful raids into the Tech half. More great defence from the hosts continued to thwart the visitors, however, and to most in attendance it seemed a draw was on the cards. But games like this are often decided by moments of brilliance and sadly for Tech, Wallsend had some magic up their sleeves. A successful lineout was rumbled up to the Tech 22 and after the ball was spun to Hamil, the fly half darted inside before offloading a telling pass to Chris Metcalfe. The speedy centre cleverly exploited the gap created by his teammate and powered to the line for the clinching score.
Tech 6 (3)
Pens: Wallis (35, 47)
Wallsend 13 (6)
Try: Metcalfe (80)
Con: Hamil (80)
Pen: Hamil (25)
DG: Hamil (1)
Scoring sequence (Tech listed first):
0-3 (DG), 0-6 (P), 3-6 (P) HT 6-6, (P) 6-11 (T), 6-13 (C)
Tech
Cheshire, Knight, Donnelly, Wilson, Foster, Wallis, Williamson; Dove, Hamilton, Palmer, Jukes, Thompson, Cook, Best, Stockdale. Subs: Cameron, Campbell, Cole
Scrums 11, Attacking scrums 1, Scrums won on own put in 11, Scrums lost on own put in 0, Pens awarded 10, Kicked at goal 3 (2 misses), Kicked for touch 7, Ran 0, Lines won on own throw 9, Lines lost on own throw 3, Free kicks 2
Wallsend
Arnold, Ardley, Metcalfe, Irwin, Riddel, Hamil, J Robison; Robson, Hall, Watson, Eccles, Hughes, Christie, Slater, Barnfather. Subs: O’Connor, A Robison, Bootland
Scrums 10, Attacking scrums 1, Scrums won on own put in 10, Scrums lost on own put in 0, Pens awarded 6, Kicked at goal 1, Kicked for touch 5, Ran 0, Lines won on own throw 13, Lines lost on own throw 5, Free kicks 1
Referee: Malcolm Shorney (Durham)