SECOND-HALF SURGE CAN’T SAVE THE DAY
SUNDERLAND FIGHTBACK EARNS LOSING BONUS POINT, AFTER FIRST-HALF AGONY AT ASHINGTON
Missed tackles cost Sunderland dear as the Ashbrooke men slipped to a seventh defeat in eight Durham/Northumberland Division Two games at Ashington on Saturday.
The positive was a losing bonus point from their 3627 reverse, which lifted the Wearsiders to eight points, level with third-bottom Winlaton Vulcans.
Within two minutes of the kick-off, Sunderland incredibly found themselves trailing by 14 points.
Ashington piled on more points with a good firsthalf performance that saw Sunderland’s recent good form disappear.
The home side attacked with some pace through their lively outside centre and added further scores to end the half 21-3 in front, with Leon Ryan striking a fine penalty from out wide on the right wing for the visitors.
Sunderland had full-back Michael Heffernan being sent to sin bin for knocking on an Ashington pass near to his own try line.
A fairly basic half-time team talk from the coaches encouraged Sunderland to step up defensively, make their tackles and support better before and at the breakdown.
Craig Elstob replaced flanker Chris Little and James Fraser replaced Chris Geehan but came on as hooker, pushing Pete Harrison to tighthead prop to accommodate the youngster as hooker.
Ashington further extended their lead with a penalty on 44 minutes then added a converted try eight minutes later, to go 31-3 up.
Sunderland finally rallied and mounted sustained periods of attacking pressure on the Ashington five-metre line.
Ashington repeatedly escaped any form of sanction or punishment as their pack, which was solid in every other area of the pitch, fell apart as Sunderland drove towards the try line, thwarting clear scoring opportunities.
To compound matters. No 8 Luke Robinson was penalised for running into his own player, after he drove over the try line, having picked up the ball from the back of one such scrum.
Sunderland began to mount a fightback, with captain Joe Arrowsmith touching down and Leon Ryan converting from wide.
To cap frustrations, the Ashington restart travelled barely five metres before it was gathered by one of their players. Sunderland quite rightly did not react, fully expecting to take the scrum, but the referee did not blow his whistle to bring play back as the Ashington player continued to waltz through to score, extending the lead to 36-10 with 16 minutes to play.
Sunderlands game management improved as Michael Heffernan kicked a penalty to touch, allowing the team to build on very solid line-out work.
Harrison’s ball was well taken by Andy Wordsworth and, as the ball was being worked through several pairs of hands, Harrison rolled back around to finish off a very good set piece out wide left, converted by Ryan to make it 36-17.
Wordsworth then scored from the back of another maul, getting Sunderland within 14 points, with eight minutes to play.
With four minutes left, Sunderland attacked down the left wing and, following a ruck, Jack Hope linking with centre partner Dom Younger, who created a gap wide right and released Colts player Jack Hadlington to score out wide right for his first senior try.
The conversion was missed as the game ended 36-27 to Ashington.