Thunder fail to rumble as Cup glory bid ends

NEWCASTLE Thunder’s interest in the League One Cup came to an end at the quarter-finals stage for a second straight year with a 24-16 loss to North Wales Crusaders at Kingston Park.

Thunder struggled to impose themselves on the game despite superb defensive sets restricting the progress of their visitors - and ultimately paid the price for errors.

They had helped themselves to an early 6-0 lead thanks to Derrell Olpherts.

Breaking through weak tackling from the visitors, the centre charged 60 metres upfield and held off several attempted tackles to score.

A sweetly-struck kick allowed Benn Hardcastle to add the conversion and, with strong defence keeping the Crusaders their side of half way, Thunder were looking impressive.

They were, however squandering attacking positions - a combination of loose passing and sloppy handling conspiring to prevent them making further in roads on the scoreboard.

One example was the cause of the Crusaders’ first try as a floated miss pass was picked off by Corey Lee, who ran a full 90 metres to put his side within two points.

Olpherts doubled his tally for the day with three first-half minutes remaining following a superb break from Aaron Teroi.

The visitors again punished Thunder with a breakaway try just three minutes into the second half as a host of defenders either missed tackles or bought dummies to allow the Crusaders in for a ponderous run to the line.

Equalising through Thomas Johnson, the visitors assumed the lead just ahead of the hour, quick hands putting in Jack Houghton.

Going behind stung the home side into a response and an impressive attacking set saw the scores squared up at 16-16 thanks to a short-range effort from Danny Nicklas and a conversion from Hardcastle - but it was short-lived.

Conceding a penalty with 12 minutes to go, the Crusaders opted for a kick at goal which yielded two points for Johnson before the fullback put the tie beyond Thunder’s reach with another breakaway try with eight minutes remaining.

The hosts went in search of a grandstand finish but the deficiencies in their attacking efforts continued to manifest themselves, ensuring they travel to Wrexham for next weekend’s league match in search of redemption.