Blaydon Bricks 0, Gateshead 3s 19
This game was played in great spirit and was much closer than the score suggested, with the Bricks close to scoring a couple of times in the first half, with a little better decision making, more fruitful options would have been taken and those earlier scores would have made a difference.
This was a team performance that grew through the first half, as a number of players had not played together for a while, so with Phil Rayson and Phil Ritson adding some experience (quite some) to proceedings. As it happens Gateshead scored the early points, but the BrIcks held it to 0-0 in the second half even though they only had one set of fresh legs on the bench.
Gateshead were a very strong experienced side ( squad of about 25) and
the majority of our experience and weight, out in Benidorm, the team were a fair bit lighter than normal, but much more mobile and they tackled like lions and wave after wave of Gateshead boys were cut down ferociously.
Good hard game with no niggle or lack of discipline, continued the trend of the last few weeks, which made it a pleasure to play in such a hotly
contested game
input from Phil Rayson and Steven Davidson