Hoiughton win in derby friendly

The boars were again left without a league fixture when Ashington cancelled the fixture at the beginning of the week. The early cancelation however allowed for a game to be arranged against Chester Le Street 2nd string.
Chester got the game under way and a clean catch was made by number 8 Mark Catteral. The forwards set up a ruck which allowed Jack Sneezham to clear and the backs followed up made the chase to put pressure on. A Houghton hand seemed to touch the ball which was passed and the Ref blew for a scrum. The first scrum seen Chester take the initial edge. Their strong centre who caused problems all afternoon made a clear break through some poor tackling by Garth Hockey and Josh Hawkins. Luckily for Houghton the flankers were on hand to turn over the ball and the danger was cleared.
Chester had a lineout from the resulting kick, which they won. Their 10 made a big kick down field which was taken cleanly by Hockey. The winger made some good yards before setting up a ruck. The ball was then shipped wide hastily and a knock on occurred. Chester again won the battle of the scrum and they kicked to touch. Louis Maggiore took the lineout cleanly and the ball was shipped to Sneezham. The stand in 10 made an outrageous dummy which sold the who backline and made a good break, however a wayward pass seen the move break down.
From the knock-on Chester had another scrum, however a penalty for not straight seen Houghton kick for touch. A clean lineout take, seen a rolling maul set up and Steve Wilson powered over. The conversion was missed.
Chester enjoyed some good pressure inside the Houghton 22. However the efforts by the pack seen the ball come back and Parkin cleared the danger. Chester again attacked with ball in hand, however sturdy defence seen a good turnover. The ball was shipped through 4 sets of hands before Kieran Hill beat he’s opposite man to score. Chester restarted and a clean catch was again taken by the forwards to allow for Sneezham to clear easily. The lineout was sloppy which allowed Houghton to pounce. The ball was shipped between forwards and backs before Kieran Jarvis broke and scored in the corner. Parkin converted.
Chester restarted but a little fumble seen by the ref brought play back. Chester number 8 made a good break from the base and got within 5 metres of the line. Houghton conceded a penalty for not releasing the player. Chester ran a tap penalty but again a big tackle by Tom McDonald seen the ball turned over and kicked to touch. The resulting lineout seen Chester put pressure on Houghton and pinned them back inside the 22. A scrum allowed another pick and drive, this time the 8 fed 9 who beat a man. He then offloaded to the strong their centre who crossed to score.
The next 10 minutes were very stop start with a serious of Knock on’s. The nearest any team came to scoring was a clear break by Jarvis who stepped he’s man before going 40metres. However the move broke down and was cleared.
Second Half
Houghton made several changes at half time as they had a subs bench of 9 players. Ben King was introduced straight to the game as he received a kick and made a clear break and was only halted by a high tackle. Sneezham kicked for touch from the resulting penalty. A quick move seen the ball set up, good Pod work seen Aiden Towers draw in two would be defenders before putting Alex Hogg in to score. Towers took the following kick off and made several yards before passing to Richey Lydiatt. The Captain pinned he’s ears back and made 40metres to reach the line only to drop the ball. Chester cleared there lines and the pressure was halted.
Chester adopted a kicking game in the second half and put a lot of high balls on the wingers. However both Graeme Bennet and King were showing good positioning taken most kicks which they returned. King ran almost every ball he received and made good ground with the support of Stu Henderson. Bennet made a meal of one kick which gave Chester a scrum. Again from the scrum Chester kicked deep and put pressure on the Houghton line. A Parkin box kick was charged down and Chester picked the ball up to score.
Mark Atkinson made further changes to personnel which made sure everyone had a run out. The changes seemed to alter the Houghton pattern of play as players looked to take contact rather than hit the gaps. This allowed Chester to pressure the Houghton 22 again but the defence was solid from Ian Ashman and Matty Renwick. Houghton made some good yards in the 75th minute when Mark Douglas returning from injury made a good break and passed to Mark Paterson who offloaded to Renwick to continue the move. Quick recycled ball seen Dan Wolfe score under the post and Sneezham converted. The next 5 minutes the game slowed down the only considerably. A powerful run from sub Chuck Lynn which seen him hand off two players was the only notable play.