ASHBROOKE STILL OUT TO SEAL TOP-TWO SPOT
COACH WATT SETS SIGHTS HIGH IN PUSH FOR PROMOTION OVER FINAL 10 MATCHES
Sunderland’s first team head back into Durham/ Northumberland Division Two action on Saturday with a home fixture against mid-table Darlington, writes John Howe.
Lying in fifth place, the Ashbrooke outfit remain confident of building on recent positive performances in the rearranged match, which fell foul of last weekend’s freezing temperatures.
Having played and beaten Darlington twice already this season in league and cup, Sunderland coach Martin Watt acknowledged the threat posed by a Darlington team which ran Sunderland close in both encounters.
He said: “They have a very good and clever set of forwards which we will have to front up to. Hopefully, we can put some width on the ball and look to use our quick, young backs.
“Our aim is to finish in the top two and the only way to do this is to win every game from now until the end of the season, while hoping some of the other teams slip up.”
Kick-off is at 2.15pm. Sunderland’s women’s team, the Flames, play Sefton at 2pm at Ashbrooke on Sunday, with a strong squad looking to notch their second home win of the season.
Sefton are a strong outfit from Liverpool with a second team playing in the tier below. Coach Paul Geehan expects “a physical and exciting game” after last week’s disappointing cancellation away to Preston Grasshoppers.
He added: “The coaching staff have had to have a hard think about key roles which has caused a massive headache as all players are pushing for starting places.”
New and old players are always welcome.
Meanwhile, Sunderland Under-14s emerged as comfortable winners in their Durham County Plate tie, scoring 10 tries to overwhelm Billingham.
The free-scoring Ashbrooke youngsters navigated their home clash with the Teessiders, racing to a 20-5 half-time lead at Hill View.
Tries by Joe Cowie, Ollie Beattie, Caleb Lowes and hooker JJ McCourt – his first of the season – established a comfortable buffer.
They were well on top in the early stages of the second half and duly increased their advantage with three further tries from second row Beattie, and one each from captain Jacob Feeney, Arron Norman and newcomer Aliyan Mohammed, with his first score for the club.
Fly half Rory Dunne added three conversions.
A defensive masterclass by Sunderland Under-16s proved the difference in a fiercely fought encounter at Hollow Drift, with hosts Durham City beaten 36-22.
The Wearsiders made it eight wins on the bounce.
It was early October when the Ashbrooke youngsters were last defeated and they rallied from an early setback when City scored a converted try before Dean Edmundson brought it back to 7-5.
City extended their lead with another before Brad Lindsay went over to make it 12-10 to the home side at the break. But then it was all Sunderland, as the visitors took the lead with a try from Reece Thompson, converted by Michael Holder.
City pegged them back to 17-17 and the score remained level for some time.
Sunderland began to attack from everywhere late in the game and they stormed in front with tries from Farai Chikumbirike and another from Lindsay, both converted by Holder.
City kept battling and grabbed a fourth try of their own, but Edmundson scored the final try and Sunderland held possession impressively to see out the last few minutes for a 14-point success.
Sunderland next host West Hartlepool.