Promotion gained
By John Chappell
Ponteland beat Seaton Carew 111-3 to gain promotion to D &N 1 at the first attempt
Apologies for the late match report - the highly successful Beer Festival got in the way !!
Ponteland outscored Ponteland 1st team cricket score on the adjacent pitch to win promotion. Pont needed two points to guarantee promotion but having broken their nearest rivals, Whitley Bay Rockcliff, last week in the County Shield, Rock stumbled to defeat at Darlington , making the maths superfluous.
On a gloriously sunny day in front or a raucous crowd in their hundreds Pont flew out of the blocks in their 50th Anniversary strip. The first attack saw a penalty to Chick (1 min). Imeddiately after the re start a 25 metre catch and drive lineout saw the returning Searle over 8-0 (4 min) throughout the game Carew battled constantly as on offside got them their only score 8-3 (7 min)
The rest of the game was a procession of scores with Carew manfully battling on . Tries from Love, Searle, Mew, Probert, Walton, Chick, Lyndon, Beswick and Chick, along with three conversions by Chick made it 59-3 at half time.
The second half followed in the same vein with tries by Scott, Lyndon, Taylor, Lyndon, Newbigin, Chick, Scott and Taylor and six Chick conversions made it 111-3 at the whistle.
Seaton Carew are to be congratulated for battling hard even though they were relegated before this game, especially their no 8 who put a massive shift in. Congratulations are in order for the players and a special mention to the backroom team who made it all happen. Coaches -Tom Bramald, John Mann, Brian Chick and Falcons star, Alex Rogers, along with kit man John Mew and physio team Joe and Beth - without these the rest wouldn't happen.
To the limit and beyond !