Enough pressure, not enough composure

Alnwick 29 Ponteland 7

With several players not available Ponteland gave their first team debuts to James Newbigin, James Mullins and Rob Charlton.

Playing into a strong wind Ponteland chose to run the first ball. A dropped pass allowed Alnwick to gain a penalty and lead 3 – 0 after 2 minutes. A quick repost saw Moller on a good run, with forwards in support. A penalty put Pont into the Alnwick corner but a spilt lineout ball ended the pressure.
The game was cut and thrust as both Alnwick and Pont attacked with pace, but Pont were let down by self inflicted mistakes by dropping passes or offloading into space.
With 30 minutes on the clock the Alnwick centre went on a strong run in broken play and several missed tackles allowed him to score 8-0.
Pont drove forward from the kick off and a lineout 20 metres out saw Pont drive Alnwick towards their own line. With 3 metres to go Alnwick collapsed the drive, with the ref awarding ... a scrum! Alnwick used the strong wind to pin Ponteland back and another run from their centre saw play break down as the ball appeared to be knocked on, only for play to continue as an Alnwick player scooped up the ball to score 15-0
From the kick off an excellent chase by Kelly ensured Pont retained the ball and several forwards picked and drove, resulting in Kelly going over the line. The ref was unsighted and gave held up so ending the half. 15-0
Amazingly the wind dropped only to pick up again at 16.31(recorded in my notebook) – some 34 minutes into the half!
Pont collected the kick off and whilst passing across the line a forward provided an intercept try to make it 22- 0 with one minute on the clock. The next 30 minutes were played completely in Alnwick’s half but resolute defending kept Pont out. A further two lineout drives again shunted Alnwick towards the line, again they magically collapsed 5 metres out and again the ref awarded scrums!!
With the first Alnwick breakout into Pont’s half a mix up amongst the backs allowed the home side to gather the ball to score 29-0.
With Pete Maughan pulling the strings from scrum half Pont moved the ball forward and a penalty for a high tackle saw Pont spin it wide with Phil Mundy diving over. M Mullins made it 29-7
With play almost over Alnwick's no 9 got a yellow card and Maughan skipped down the touchline and looked clear to score but excellent defending kept him out. The last play saw an Alnwick player burst free only to be hit by a Mundy excocet tackle; Mundy swept up the ball and the dropped it in the tackle – a reflection of the day’s effort.
Overall Alnwick deserved their victory as clinical finishing saw them score when given the opportunity whilst Ponteland wasted territory and opportunities too many times