ERRORS HIT ASHBROOKE
Sunderland slumped to their third successive Durham/Northumberland Division One defeat on Saturday, going down 25-21 at Sedgefield.
error-strewn performance An meant the visitors were unable to get the upper hand in a game that was there for the taking.
After a victory earlier in the season, the Ashbrooke side were confident of claiming the points, but failed to adapt to Sedgefield’s compact pitch, and duly lost by a single score.
Sunderland started positively, with Hugo Fairlie fielding a kick-off and making yards into Sedgefield’s 10-metre area.
Sunderland retained the ball well and an infringement at the breakdown from Sedgefield, when under increasing pressure, saw them concede a seventh-minute penalty, converted by Harry Connell for a 3-0 Sunderland lead.
Sedgefield rallied to 7-3 up with a converted, ninthminute try. James Fraser made way following a head injury for Andrew Stewart to take his first steps on what has been a near- two season injury lay-off.
Colin Wallace, making his first-team debut at centre, made hard yards and tackled well, stopping Sedgefield’s strike runners.
On 14 minute, fly-half Marc Edmundson benefited from space created by forward play following a Wallace break, as Brad Fish spun the ball out for him to pick his way through a disorganised defence to score just wide of the upright. The conversion was missed, but Sunderland were 8-7 up.
From a driving maul, Grant Edmundson was driven over the try line, but, as the maul collapsed, Sedgefield were able to turn ball over.
As penalties mounted at the breakdown, Connell extended the visitors’ lead to 11-7 with a 28th-minute kick, but Sedgefield rallied with a penalty right on half-time.
Captain John Padget, who scored a perfectly good try only for Sedgefield to convince the referee that the ball was not grounded, urged his side to maintain discipline and structure and build on positive play in the second half.
Within two minutes of the restart, Sedgefield went ahead with a penalty, then they ran in a try to go 18-11 up, the decision standing despite a knock-on from their centre.
Sedgefield added another try out wide to go 25-11 ahead, but the visitors determinedly fought back, with Stewart and Padget making the hard yards, and rucking to keep ball alive.
Sustained forward pressure saw James Fraser drive over for an unconverted try, cutting the deficit to nine point.
It was 25-21 with eight minutes to go as Sunderland pressurised Sedgefield’s scrum and flanker Grant Edmundson reacted quickly to gather it and drive over for a try.
But missed chances in the closing stages saw Sunderland miss out on a winning score.
Chairman Paul Geehan said: “Missed penalties and conversions didn’t help. The small pitch had to be adapted to, and we suffered from bad decisions when tries were there to be scored.”
Sunderland slipped to seventh place, mid-table, with the defeat.
Elsewhere, Sunderland seconds progressed in the Durham County Cup, beating Stockton thirds 48-10 at Ashbrooke.
Houghton’s Division Three match at home to Hartlepool BBOB was postponed, while Seaham were sunk 46-0 by visitors Seghill.
Horden & Peterlee produced a dominant secondhalf performance to win 24-3 at Stockton, avenging their home defeat earlier in the season.
The Colliery side trailed 3-0 at the break but ran in four tries in the last 40 minutes to clinch a deserved victory, with Craig Gilmour, David Heckles, Stephen Hunt and Craig Jones all touched down. Horden head coach Glenn Bowman said: “Credit to the full squad –