Aspatria built on last week’s solid away win at Novocastrians by taking another full five points in the 28-22 defeat of Medicals.
A first-half hat-trick of tries from left-winger Grant Bethwaite ensured Aspatria took an 18 point advantage into the second period but games involving then Black Reds are rarely devoid of late drama and this was no exception.
The first ten minutes or so passed without incident with the two teams looking evenly matched. Medicals missed a penalty to take the lead and arguably had a slight advantage in terms of field position.
The game changed on 16 minutes with the first of Bethwaite’s tries. Each of the trio came as a result of good teamwork in the build-up but it was the sublime work of a supreme finisher that sealed the deal.
For the first Aspatria built up a solid position in the Medicals 22, and just when it appeared to be breaking down stand-off Jack Clegg was able to get hands-on the ball and slide a grubber kick behind the defence for Bethwaite to chase down and score.
They had to wait until the 30th minute for Bethwaite’s second. This was a simpler affair starting from a scrum penalty on the right with the ball moved to the left to Bethwaite who tapped down at the corner flag.
Despite the setback, Medicals remained competitive and were capable of putting multiple attacking phases together. None of these came to much with the home defence looking in a determined mood. It was a team effort but the tackle count of back row’s Phil Dixon and Stuart Creighton had a massive influence.
The first half appeared to be coming to a close when there was a late flurry of activity. Clegg had extended the lead to 13:0 with a penalty when a candidate for try of the season emerged.
Scrum-half Alex Barton broke out of the Aspatria half with a tearing run. Barton had backup and the ball was moved to the Medicals 22 line where Clegg joined in with a precise chip kick, straight into the arms of Bethwaite who needed no further invitation to race in at the corner.
The half time lead of 18 points was short-lived. Within three minutes of the restart, Medicals found a way through the Aspatria defensive line to close the gap.
At this stage, there were no warning bells for the home side. Aspatria took the game back into Medicals territory and on 47 minutes centre Joe Beaty exploited an outnumbered defensive line to score his side’s fourth try.
Medicals pulled another three points back with a drop goal but with the game now into the final five minutes it seemed hardly plausible that Aspatria would succumb to a sucker punch.
On 75 minutes Medicals, who clearly had the fitness to last the distance, struck their first blow with a well taken converted try, turning the scoreboard round to 23-17.
This season Aspatria have been guilty of allowing match-winning positions to be snatched from them in the closing minutes and repeating this was almost their downfall.
From the restart, Medicals started a frantic attack. This was really very good rugby from the Newcastle-based team and there seemed a gloom of inevitability that they would score.
They did not disappoint and at 23-22, everyone watching turned attention towards a regulation conversion that if successful would hand a single point lead to the visitors.
It was not a bad strike but the wind at Bower Park can be unpredictable and this factor just took the ball away from the far upright. Aspatria were still alive.
There was still time to restart the game and Aspatria lifted themselves for one final effort of regaining and then retaining possession. In fact, they went one better with Matthew Atkinson blasting a hole in the Medicals defence around the 22 and racing over the line to end the game.
