Mowden heading for relegation tussle against Tynedale

THE signs are that there isn't room for three North-East teams in National One. Come the New Year, Mowden and Tynedale will be locked in a tussle to avoid the third relegation spot.

Two bonus points from this agonising defeat in front of bumper crowd of 1,320 took Mowden a point ahead of the Corbridge men, but the chance to move up two more places was squandered.

In a sloppy start they allowed Wharfedale two early tries, then after gallantly overhauling a 24-7 deficit to lead with ten minutes left they carelessly handed former Blaydon fly half Jamie Guy the chance to kick the winning penalty.

Mowden are suffering partly from trying to keep too many players happy.

Having both Grant Connon and Liam Riley make their first starts at this level after long lay-offs proved a mistake.

Both are highly talented, but two brief outings from the bench were not sufficient preparation for Connon, while Riley was removed at half-time.

Back row is an area which tends to benefit from being settled and well-balanced, but Riley was the tenth player to start there this season. And Ben Gledhill has yet to appear.

The modern trend seems to require back row men to play in any of the three positions, so that Mowden began this match with three men best suited to open side. It would be impossible to imagine Wharfedale's hat-trick man, pocket battleship Dan Solomi, playing anywhere but open side.

Things improved for Mowden when Guy van den Dries went on at No 8, a position he appeared to have made his own until two unfortunate yellow cards resulted in a week's suspension.

He can now have another week's rest before Mowden resume on January 3 away to bottom club Macclesfield. They could do with a couple of away wins because there are only six home games left.

They also have a plethora of wingers to keep happy while remaining short of centres. When it was decided Garry Law wasn't fit to resume on Saturday rarely-used winger Lewis Johnston was slotted in at No 12.

Mark Ireland, like Gledhill an early summer signing, has scarcely been seen.

Wharfedale do remarkably well to survive at this level, but survive they do and they were more streetwise than their hosts, who were again guilty of kicking away too much ball.

That's how they began and ended the match, with Connon's final kick out of defence giving Wharfedale the chance to mount the attack which produced the winning penalty.

There were three minutes left, but the visitors virtually stuffed the ball up their jumpers, as Mowden should have done once they took the lead.

Victory looked certain at that point because changes of personnel on both sides, including the removal of Solomi, had allowed Mowden to turn the tables up front.

Initially they had no answer to Wharfedale's catch-and-drive, which produced two of Solomi's tries. The other, when he appeared on an overlap on the right wing, also followed a penalty kicked to touch.

Mowden finally strung together several phases and Connon nipped through to score from five metres before adding the conversion.

They were in the game at 17-7 at half-time, but kicked possession away on the resumption and Wharfedale pressure ended with Solomi burrowing over.

Mowden responded well, making their all-round athleticism count when Rob Conquest made a telling burst and fellow lock George Hedgley finished a good move in the left corner.

Another excellent attack up the left was illegally foiled just short of the line and the penalty to touch produced a try for back row man Jack Allcock.

Connon's fine conversion meant Mowden had 20 minutes to score one more converted try and take the lead, which they duly did ten minutes later.

After they were held up over the line a series of messy scrums finally resulted in a penalty try, although Mowden must have wondered why it took much longer than when they had two similar scores awarded against them at Wharfedale.

The conversion was a formality, but unfortunately the final penalty wasn't much more difficult for Guy.