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The statisticians were reaching for their record books straight from the Ponteland kick off when Suliano Tubuna drove straight at the advancing forwards, allowing Tom King to release captain Alan Brown on the blindside. Brown drew the winger to allow Dave Standing to power through before passing inside to the supporting King, who ran under the posts to score in just 22 seconds of the start with Lewis Humble, in for the injured Ian Bond, adding the conversion.
Pools continued their early domination with another determined forward effort, with Dave Ryan and Brett Cullaine leading the way, which was illegally stopped in front of the posts, allowing Humble to score with a well struck penalty. Despite their early forward domination, Ponteland defended courageously to thwart the home team from running away with the game, and eventually managed to gain some parity in the play through their own forwards. In fact, they missed two long range penalty efforts before they opened their account with an easier chance in front of the posts. In difficult heavy conditions, both teams battled hard around the contact area throughout the remainder of the game, which limited the amount of ball each set of backs saw. From a determined run from Andy Palmer, supported by colleagues Mick Hall and Andrew Small, Pools created an overlap on the right wing which put Standing through on a clear run to the line, only for play to be brought back for a forward pass. A loose ball in midfield saw Ponteland break free with some clever interplay, which was stopped with a try saving tackle from Richard Picknett only inches from the line, who was covering from the opposite wing. Pools cleared the danger from the resultant line out with a steal from stalwart Stewart Hind, allowing King to kick downfield. Excellent follow up from centre's Ian Coulson and Adam Redhead caught the visitors full back in possession, who was penalised for holding on in the tackle, with full back Patrick Wilson striking a long range penalty through the posts to increase the Pools lead. Close to half time, Hind showed some exceptional skills close to the touchline to outsmart the Ponteland winger, and then placed a deft kick through before he was late tackled 10 meters from the try line. Ponteland managed to snuff out the resultant line out to clear the danger for the final action of the first half.
The deteriorating conditions made it difficult for either team to utilise their backs for any series of runs during the second half, with both sets of forwards cancelling themselves out in a dogged battle up front. Chances were at a premium with both defences performing admirably, with Ponteland's best chance coming mid way through the half following a break up the left wing, with the winger eventually knocking the ball on 15 meters from the try line. Dave Ryan was sin binned for not rolling away in the tackle, soon followed by the visitors No 6 for a similar offence. As the game entered the final few minutes, Humble scored a further penalty for the final score of the game.
This was a character building win for Hartlepool, showing they have the ability to do some of the hard work in difficult conditions when needed. A welcome boost to the side was the return from injury for Andy Wray, injured in pre-season and Andy Woodward, who both performed well in coming off the substitutes bench in the second half. The matches don't get any easier next week when Pool's travel to Redcar next week to play the early season pace setters, who had an impressive 64-0 victory away to Houghton, for what should be the match of the day in DN2. Player of the match for Hartlepool was Stewart Hind, who dominated the line out and was impressive throughout in the loose.
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NEXT FIXTURE
Pre-season training
VENUE
meet Mayfield Park 645pm
DATE
Tuesday 23rd June
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