Blaydon 21 – Coventry 16

Having spent the first 40 minutes in the doldrums Blaydon made 3 changes during the break and were instantly transformed. Trailing by 13 points unanswered, an excellent George Oliver try and 8 points from the boot of Cliff Hodgson, they tore into the visitors and were rewarded with a first try on 48 minutes.

A smart break by Joseph Heslop was whipped through the hands to replacement hooker Matt Hall who ran a perfect line to cross under the posts, and Andrew Baggett added the conversion.
Coventry by now were a shadow of their former selves and had no answer when the home side kicked a penalty to the corner and set up a trademark catch and drive. Skipper Keith Laughlin touched down and another Baggett conversion put Blaydon ahead.

A third Hodgson penalty after Matt Jones had failed with a long distance effort restored the Coventry lead, but not for long.

Blaydon were still in the ascendancy but time was running out when the visitors infringed at a scrum. Baggett found distance with the kick, and the forwards took it on again from the line-out looking for a second drive over.

This time however they let it out, Baggett found Toby Bain with the crispest of passes and the replacement centre stormed in for the winning try and Baggett once more put the icing on the cake.

Scoring

Blaydon
Tries: Hall 48, Laughlin 63, Bain 78.
Conversions : Baggett 48,63,78.

Coventry
Try: Oliver 20
Conversion: Hodgson 20
Penalties: Hodgson 10,30,71

Star man: Cliff Hodgson (Coventry)
Referee: Marcus Caton
Attendance: 339
HT 0-13 FT 21-16

John Brennan