Warren Seals a late win for DMP at Caldy

DARLINGTON Mowden Park stole the glory from Caldy with a last-minute penalty in an evenly-contested battle.

This war of attrition ended in heartbreak for Caldy, who led by a point for the majority of the second half, only to concede a late penalty which Darlington centre Warren Seals confidently converted.

Caldy started brightly with Rhys Hayes’ fine season continuing as he broke through a welldrilled Darlington defence. This dominant passage of play resulted in just three points, courtesy of Gavin Roberts, and left Caldy feeling more was deserved.

After 19 minutes Darlington fly-half Brett Connon produced brilliance of his own as he smartly used his options as decoys and punctured a hole through the Caldy backline to score under the posts.

The second half saw Caldy produce a similarly pulsating start to the first half. Nick Royle finished off a decisive move from Hayes in which he quickly changed the direction of play from the base of the ruck, catching the Darlington defence off-guard and putting Caldy in the driving seat.

With Caldy coming through ten minutes a man down unscathed, victory was in reach only for Darlington to earn a penalty for an infringement at the breakdown.

Seals stepped up and made no mistake to sneak the points for the visitors.