North One East: Morpeth 22 Bradford & Bingley 21

MORPETH started the day as undefeated North One East leaders but only led this game with the final kick of the 80 minutes as Ben Hornby’s conversion of Michael Craig’s try in time added on saw the hosts home and left Bradford & Bingley with a solitary losing bonus point.

It has taken the Wagon Lane side some time to adapt to the new patterns of play that the coaching team have tried to install, but for most of this game it looked like they would reap a handsome reward from sticking to the new game-plan and keeping faith with the vision that the coaching team has for how the game should be played.

A man-of-the-match performance from Tom Johnson at fly half orchestrated some fine handling moves from the Bees and some extra pace and go forward was injected into the midfield with the introduction of new signing Stefan Roguski after 20 minutes.

Although this is a new-look Bradford & Bingley side, there was something very familiar to the travelling supporters about the first points on the board as Tom Cummins powered over from close range after eight minutes.

With Lance Taylor slotting the extras, the visitors deserved their early lead and looked to be the better side.

Hornby pulled back a penalty for Morpeth after 14 minutes, but it was the visitors who were playing more of the rugby, and with the pack at least gaining parity with their hosts in the tight the Bees looked dangerous with each possession.

The performance of two of the older heads in the visiting pack, Andy Smith and Ryan Wederell, was key to the solid performance up front, and the Bees' next score came from the forwards.

However, it took some superb footwork not normally associated with a second row to send Ante Majic over for the five points as the full back was turned inside out by the fleet-footed lock on his way to the line.

The Bees were then suddenly undermined by a familiar problem this season – a yellow card.

As has happened already this season, almost as soon as Michael Crotch crossed the whitewash for his ten minutes in the cooler, the Bees opposition were over for a score and a 14-3 advantage was suddenly reduced to six, with Jake Jardine collecting the score in the 37th minute.

The sides turned round at 14-8 but almost as soon as the visitors were back to a full complement, Taylor found a superb running angle to take a pass from Johnson and score his first try in Bees colours.

Taylor converted his own score to put the visitors 21-8 ahead, but Morpeth are too good a side to allow the visitors to run away with the game, and within three minutes Fraser Boldy was over the line to pull them back within six points after Hornby had tagged on the conversion.

Although 28 minutes remained on the clock, with both sides picking up the pace of the game in attack and defence it looked increasingly likely that it would be decided by no more than a single score.

Taylor had missed a kickable penalty for the Bees, which kept Morpeth within a converted score, and as time ticked on close to full-time, the home side found themselves camped in visiting territory.

The Bees then had Max Mountain sent to the sin bin, leaving them a man light with Morpeth edging ever nearer.

With three minutes of time added-on played, the Bradford & Bingley defence was finally broken and Craig dotted down. leaving Hornby a simple kick to claim the victory.