Consett dump Darlington out of cup

In the first competitive outing of the new season, head coach David Trott handed debuts to centre Luke Draper and forward Ryan Williams, whilst Hayden Petch returned to the line-up after spending last season aborad. Due to the rules of the competition, Trott was also able to name a larger bench then is allowed in the league, enabling him to look at new combinations in preparation for the upcoming league season.

Consett begun the first half with a blustery wind at their backs, and were notably faster out the blocks. Scrum-half Tom Johnson punished two infringements by the large Darlington pack in the first 10 minutes, cooling slotting penalties in challenging conditions to put the home side 6-0 up. However, a break down the blind side by Darlington following a turn-over allowed centre James Parks to slice through and score under the posts to give the away side an unlikely lead. Despite Johnson restoring the lead with another penalty, Darlington again moved ahead with a catch and drive line-out, rumbling to the try line from the Consett 22.

The team were forced into an early change when debutant Draper suffered an injury, Steven Marshall taking his place. And Marshall was immediately involved in the home sides first try of the game, shipping on a pass from first five Alex Paulus to full-back Mark Lee, who ran a lovely switch with Adam Wilkinson, the winger demonstrating excellent speed and balance as he ran in under the posts.

Consett scored two more converted tries before the half-time whistle, with Paulus to the fore in both. The first came from an excellent team move. Good line-out ball off the top by back-row Harry Gray enabled the fly half to feed a charging Marshall running an excellent line. Superb support from No8 Williams led play to within 10m of the Darlington line, before quick ball saw Paulus fend off a would be tackler and scoot round to score the under posts. After another impressive backline move saw winger Sam Stuart ‘bumped’ into touch 10m short of the whitewash, Consett stole the opposition ball. Following a couple of forward plays, Paulus offloaded round the back of a tackle to centre Petch, who again made the conversion easy for Johnson by touching down under the posts. Half time came with the score 30-14.

The second half was more of a scrappy affair, with both sides struggling to get into a flow due to dropped balls, the referees whistle and the windy conditions. Darlington capitalised on having a man advantage when Paulus was yellow carded, scoring out wide through winger Andrew Tonkin. Consett responded in-kind when the tables were turned 10 minutes later after Darlington prop Joe Hargreaves was sent to the bin. Full-back Lee ran back a loose clearance kick, feeding Marshall who then passed inside to Stuart, the winger just failing to score but forcing a 5m attacking scrum. Williams capped off an excellent debut by picking up and attacking the short-side, where to his surprise (and the touchlines), he went in untouched.

After Darlington had scored their third try through winger Ollie Pearse, Johnson took the score to 38-24 with his fourth penalty of the game, before arguably the move of the match. Attacking the blind-side from inside their own half off the back of a scrum, Johnson fed Lee out of a covering tackle who found replacement wing Connor Gates hugging the touchline. Gates executed a perfect two-on-one, passing inside to supporting back-row Bradley Sotheran who scored under the posts.

A late score by Darlington meant the game finished 45-31. Consett now progress to the semi-final of the Durham Senior Cup, where they will meet West Hartlepool from North One East on 14 February 2015. Next week the team travel to Morpeth to begin their league season.