Gateshead Thunder 24, Workington Town 42

Workington Town’s season so far was encapsuled in this latest contest at the International Stadium which was their third victory over the north-east strugglers.

Dominant and in control for most of the first-half, establishing a 24-6 interval lead, Town were well placed to go on and win well against a side clearly low in confidence.

But it didn’t pan out like that as Gateshead actually finished the stronger and won back some lost pride after that horrendous 132-0 defeat at Blackpool a week earlier.

They shared the second-half 18-18 with their west Cumbrian visitors, which left joint coach Gary Charlton shaking his head in frustration again.

“We just can’t play a consistent 80 minutes of rugby. At times, when we stuck to the game plan, we looked very good but equally when we didn’t I’m afraid we were very ordinary.

“It seems as though I’m banging my head against a brick wall. I’m afraid we have some members of the team who are letting down their mates,” said Charlton.

Some of the tackling in the final quarter of the game from Town helped Thunder close the gap while the visitors were also guilty of some poor handling and passing when they had opportunities to put the game beyond their hosts earlier in proceedings.

The positives from the game were that Town collected their third successive victory and are starting to gain a more solid foothold in the play-off positions. But there’s much more work ahead, particularly with regard to consistency during a game.

In view of Gateshead’s shattering defeat at Blackpool the Town game plan as to hit them hard in the opening  exchanges and provide more self doubt in the Thunder ranks.#

Well it couldn’t have gone better as Mike Backhouse (pictured) helped himself to two unconverted tries in the first seven minutes – the first from a clever under-hand pass round the corner from Paddy Coupar and the second, similar, with Mike Whitehead the provider.

Gateshead offered little and all the body language suggested that here was a side coming into the contest on the back of a massive defeat, and with not much idea on how they were going to change things.

They did hang-in doggedly and he tackling must have been vasdtrly improved from the Blackpool game, but Town did score again on 21 minutes – with their best try of the game.

The ball was spread well to the right and Jarrad Stack’s inviting pass saw Aaron Low take it in full stride and power through two despairing tackles to make the touchdown. Darren Holt converted from the touchline.

With Holt pulling the strings, and impressing with some early tactical kicking, Town were well placed to go on and improve their points differential.

But suddenly Gateshead went on a roll, had a very good ten minute spell and during it scored a close range try from Ade Aderiye which Ryan Clarke converted.

It looked as though it might only be a minor aberration by Town because they finished the half on top, adding two more tries and bombing at least three good opportunities.

Brett Carter spun out of a tackle and flung himself over the line from close-in and then Jamie Marshall, with virtually his first touch as a substitute, also dived in from dummy-half. Scott Kaighan converted the second.

Marshall should have had a second try when he intercepted on his own 20 metre line and broke right down the field, apparently seeing-off the opposition, but just seemed to falter in the closing yards and a Gateshead defender just did enough in contact for the Town player to drop the ball as he went over.

On two other occasions Town were in good field positions, early in the tackle counts, when a dreadful pass or sloppy handling cost them tries.

Town scored first in the second-half, but not until the 56th minute when Holt picked-up a loose ball inside his own half. Quickly realising he hadn’t the legs to go all the way he slipped a pass to Kaighan who had! Holt converted.

Three minutes later some poor work by the Gateshead defence saw Ton score again with Andrew Beattie driving over to score. Again Holt converted and at 36-6 surely Town would pull clear in the final quarter of the game.

Not so I’m afraid because three of the four tries that followed all went Gateshead’s way with Matt Garside (64), Reece Young (68) and Liam Duffy (74) all taking advantage of some slack, uninspired defence by Town. Clarke converted all of them.

The only addition to the Town score was a gem of a try on 65 minutes. Holt’s measured kick through was perfectly weighted and Kaighan arrived at the right time to get the touchdown which Holt converted.

STAR MAN – MIKE BACKHOUSE – Two early tries should have set Town on their way to a convincing win but he did well throughout – a willing workhorse coming in from the wing and a runner who caused Gateshead problems.

Town: Carter, Backhouse, Beattie, Low, Frazer, L. Finch, Kaighan, Macdonald, Holt, Coward, Whitehead, Stack, Coupar. Subs (all used): Lebbon, Rhodes, Marshall, Robinson.

Referee: Ged Dolan

Crowd: 285

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