Brilliant Barker inspires Blues to victory

A LATE flurry of tries helped Macclesfield down Blaydon and register another victory in an impressive campaign so far.

Blaydon, still without a win, found themselves 20-3 down at half-time despite having had plenty of the ball, but failing to break down the Blues’ defence.

At the other end, the experienced Chris Townsend took an intuitive line to score under the posts. Lewis Barker scored a try himself, converted and added two furtherpenalties.

The only reply came from a 13th-minute threepointer from close range via Joseph Whyman.

The Blues would have hoped to have added more points straight after the break kicking to the corner from their first penalty, but Blaydon weathered a tricky five-minute spell in their own 22 to score at the other end on 51 minutes through Bell and reduce arrears to 20-10. Macc had to repeal several attacked after that, with Franky Barker finding himself in the bin.

Eventually, the Cheshire side managed to kick through the gears, Lewis Barker crossing on 72 to make it 25-10, having shown great pace and then kicking to convert his own try.

The last 10 minutes turned into a rout, with two more tries being run in through Lewis Barker and Tom Burden, heavily influenced by the injection of pace of Charlie Reed, who was electric throughout the afternoon.