Blustery Bonus Point Well Earned

Blustery Bonus Point Well Earned
Acklam 6-35 Consett

Consett travelled to Acklam after a 2 year break due to the level transfer Acklam received to Yorkshire 1 and their subsequent relegation to D&N 2 as a result, from which they bounced back at the first time of asking. Consett made changes with John Rowbotham getting his first run out this season after injury and Johnny Walls making his first team debut. Matthew Varley returned to the team in the absence of Dougie Patterson who needs an operation on his vocal cords after the high tackle he received at Ryton.
It was a blustery day with the wind blowing straight down the pitch which would give a double advantage of downhill and downwind to Acklam in the first half. Consett started well with Nick Cook knocking over a penalty on 2 minutes. Acklam powered back from the kick off and controlled possession and territory for the next 10 minutes with only a penalty miss that threatened the score board. On 14 minutes Acklam scored from a penalty to level the scores 3-3. From the restart won by Connor Petch the ball was moved to Steven Marshall who broke feeding Alex Paulus to go the last 20m to score under the posts, Cook converted 3-10 and Acklam had made all the play. From the kick off Consett cleared their lines and Acklam had a lineout on their own 10m line to launch an attack but from a cleanly won lineout Ryan Williams intercepted the pass from 9-10 and ran unopposed to score under the sticks for Cook to convert and Consett lead 3-17 after 20 minutes. This was the half time score as Acklam again retained most of the possession but were repelled by some resolute defence from the visitors.
Acklam were awarded a penalty from the second half restart which reduced the arrears to 6-17. Consett now with the elements behind them started to dominate the play and this resulted in two more penalties for Cook on 10 and 15 minutes to make the score 6-23.
20 minutes into the half the ball came to Marshall on his own 5m line who rounded the winger and set off up field drawing the last defender on his own 10m line popping the pass to Joe Trott for the score until he came across the quick sand and was swallowed up by the Acklam cover on their 5m line. The ball was killed by the defence and a penalty awarded with a yellow card to the Acklam fullback. Scrum taken and as Stephen Walls was scoring the referee awarded a penalty try, easy Cook conversion and 6-30 with 20 minutes to get the bonus point. Opportunities were squandered until with 3 minutes left a high tackle on Marshall led to a flare up which resulted in the referee not seeing the bonus point try. A discussion about handbags resulted in 2 Acklam players being sin binned. Consett took a tap penalty and Alex Paulus barged his way over defenders to score in the corner bonus point secure but only just. The referee blew his whistle 2 minutes early to take all tension from proceeding another good decision and a fine game he had.
Acklam fought well throughout the game and looked after the ball for long periods and are adapting well to life in D&N1. Good side with much spirit doing well.