The two sides exchanged penalties in the opening 10 minutes with Lewis Wilson levelling for Pool. 3-3

Pool took the lead after 15 minutes , when Jon Carney soared in the line out and was driven forward 15 metres , the home side came in
from the wrong side and the number 7 was yellow carded. Lewis Wilson stroked over the penalty and Pool were ahead 3-6.

20 minutes on the clock and Pool were "left off the hook" after a routine penalty kick in front of the posts was pulled wide.

A minute later Pool were dealt a blow when centre Dave Chester was yellow carded for entering the ruck on the wrong side . The resultant penalty was missed.

However the next play saw Gateshead number 8 received a yellow card for a late tackle on Pool stand off Adam Ainley.

Pool attacked the blind side and the ball was stolen at he break down , the clearance kick was booted up field and was expertly caught by Tazz Pelser who ran at the Gateshead defence , the forwards drove the ball on and then second row Shane Ivey broke from the ruck with a strong run taking play 5 metres from the try line , after sucking the defence with a series of drives , Pool created an overlap and the ball was shipped along the backs but a deliberate knock on stopped a certain try and a penalty try was awarded and Pool led 3-13. The home defender was also yellow carded.

Taz Pelzer was then sent to the sin bin for dissent for taking offence to being pulled back in a ruck.

Gateshead responded with a try of their own after hard work from the forwards, quick hands in the back saw the winger finish superbly in the corner. The difficult conversion was missed 8-13.

From the kick off , Pool chased the kick and Danny Cooper managed to get his hands on the ball and the penalty was awarded to Pool for holding on . The referee decision was questioned and the penalty was moved forward 10 more metres and Lewis Wilson made no mistake with the kick to give Pool 8-16..

Just before half time, with the red and blues on the offensive , Dave Chester attempted to intercept a pass in his 22 metre line and knocked the ball on in the process and was given a second yellow card for a deliberate knock on.

Second half , with Pool down to 13 players , Gateshead made use of the numerical advantage and from a scrum 15 metres out, the number 8 picked up and slick hands in the backs saw the winger score wide out to reduce the arrears to 3 points. 13-16

Pool drove the home scrum back, causing the scrum half to knock the ball on and from the resultant scrum, Pool attacked the blind and the forward drove forcible on with 5 "pick and goes" featuring John Osborne , Callum Whitehead , Shane Ivey , Danny Cooper and Tyler Hall.

Tazz dived over from close range to continue his recent scoring spree for Pool's second try .13-21 Lewis Wilson added the extra points.13-23.

In a purple period for Pool, Callum Whitehead broke away in his own half and made 20 metres before Adam Ainley fed Harry Mayes and Mayes saw a gap and darted thorough the opening before passing to Alex Winter who was tackled , the first defender came in from the wrong side and was penalised accordingly . Tazz Pelser took a quick penalty and stepped passed the full back to score from 15 metres . 13-28 Again Lewis Wilson added the two points to extend the lead to 13-30.

In an entertaining game, Gateshead scored a great try from the dangerous full back who went on a mesmerising run which started in his own half and saw him finish superbly in the corner . With the conversion kicked, the lead was reduced to 12 points. 18-30

Pool tried to counter again and Adam Ainley was pulled back illegally and his opposite number was sin binned.

From a Michael Smalley line out ball, sub Joe McDonnell showed great strength to get over the white line but unfortunately he failed to ground the ball and a great opportunity was missed to secure the all important bonus point.

With 10 minutes remaining Pool were back down to 13 players when Pool captain was slow to move away from the tackle area and was duly yellow card.

Gateshead then attacked the Pool line for 5 minutes but superb defence kept them at bay.

The last few minutes saw Pool control the game and slowly moved up the park before Harry Mayes injected pace into the attack and broke away before a great cover tackle held him up on the try line and the referee blew for full time..

Next up is the visit of North Shields to Mayfield Park this Saturday.