The sides shared six tries,  with the boot of young Morpeth fly-half Harvey Gillie ultimately making the difference as he kept the scoreboard ticking with two penalties and a drop-goal.

West began the game in positive fashion forcing several penalties with Jake Linighan once again dominating line-out ball. As a sign of things to come,  Morpeth defended their line manfully,  including stripping the ball from Chris Atkins as he powered his way to the line.

However, the pressure did tell as a gap was eventually created for Matt Siddle to go over after five minutes and adding the conversion.

West skipper Ryan Painter was then despatched to the sin-bin for retaliation as Morpeth mounted their first real attack,  and they levelled the score five minutes later with flanker Craig Donnelly going over from close range.

The home side lost flanker Connor McLurg to a shoulder injury with Isaac Robinson replacing him. The pressure was maintained with the Morpeth scrum going backwards frequently, but when it mattered the visitors were able to keep their line intact .

It led to increasing frustration for West. The sucker punch coming when an ambitious pass from centre Will Hilditch on his 22, was intercepted allowing Morpeth winger Jonny Ward to race to the line -Gillie adding the extras.

For the remaining five minutes of the half West tried desperately to level the scorewth a scrum penalty on the Morpeth 22 seeing Siddle kick to the corner - once again the drives for the line were stopped.

The pattern was repeated in the second half with West wining several penalties at the scrum .This time the pressure eventually tellng.. Ollie Connolly (left) had made one break into the Morpeth 22 only to be tackled short of the line,  but he made no mistake when Atkins and Painter combined to create a gap for the West centre to glide through. Siddle’s conversion was wide and Morpeth were able to stretch their lead to five points with a penalty from 25 metres. That was  followed by another two minutes later to give the visitors some breathing space.

With Ben Reed on for the injured Sam Knight,  West began to spread their attacks and looked to be in with chance with an overlap on the right. Unfortunately, Reed’s pass out of the back of his hand just evading Lewis Scott.

The pressure continued only for  West to be hit with a sucker punch as the Morpeth defence soaked up the attacks - earning a number of turnovers as they did so. Their ability to rip the ball in the tackle led to the score which ultimately settled the game. The West forwards were once again head down matching toweards the line when Morpeth man of the match Craig Donnelly managed to once again rip the ball. His speedy pass out left sending centre Jake McKay running the length of the pitch to take the score to 12-25.

Morpeth then again showing how to make the most of their chances with a drop goal from Gillies from just outside the 22 giving them a 16 point lead.

However, West’s games are almost always marked by a score in the very last minute. This time it was Will Corbett who was finally able to breach the visitor’s defence. I was scant consolation.

The Stags also had tough Northumberland opposition with the visit of Alnwick IIs for a friendly game. The visitors play in Candy Division One, which is where the West team hope to be playing next season. There was plenty of encouragement for them in the 33-41 defeat.

West: Sam Knight, Lewis Scott, Will Hilditch, Ollie Connolly, Max Tennant, Matt Siddle, Ryan Painter (capt), Jack Angus, Aidan Jackson-Smith, Andrew Rollins, Will Corbett, Jake Linighan, Connor McLurg, Charlie Kay, Chris Atkins.

Reps (all used): Adam Hutchinson, Isaac Robinson, Ben Reed.

Tries: Siddle, Connolly, Corbett.

Cons: Siddle (2).

Yellow: Painter.

Morpeth: Tom Katory, Jonny Ward, Jake McKay, Sam Hornby, Jake Stevenson, Harvey Gillie, Jack Elliott (capt), Ian Grieve, Ryan Shaw, Theo Gavaghan, Elliott Clark, Steve Long, Tom Leeson, Craig Donnelly, Josh Williams.

Reps: (all used); Callum Burgess, Cade Whitfield, Tony Moody.

Tries: Donnelly, War, McKay.

Referee: Louis Dinsdale (Durham).