Aspatria grabbed a merited bonus point in their 20-17 defeat at Stockton in Durham Northumberland One.
This was the least that the Black Reds deserved in a hard-fought contest that maybe should have delivered a win in an entertaining game despite a strong wind throughout the contest.
The result leaves Stockton in third place and together with Northern and Percy Park, closing in on a top-four finish.
The loss, although disappointing, has not ended Aspatria’s hopes of a top-four finish and an opportunity to advance in the league structure.
The fact is Aspatria are 12 points adrift of Westoe, currently holding fourth and have 11 remaining games to try and overhaul their rivals.
Aspatria started the match with the wind firmly behind them but initially did not use this advantage to gain territory.
Despite having the best of the early play Stockton were first to concede on 14 minutes. The home team attempted a kick to relieve pressure in their half only to see it charged down and Aspatria stand-off, Josh Watson chased after the ball to get the opening score.
Aspatria had quite suddenly taken control of the game and rapidly increased the advantage. The opportunity was first created by Matthew Atkinson who ripped the ball from Stockton hands to set Phil Dixon off and charging downfield.
The chance seemed gone with the ball mishandled but Aspatria then took the ball against the head in the subsequent scrum and Gary Hodgson from number eight charged over to establish a 12-0 lead.
In the final 15 minutes of the first half, Stockton came back to life with two tries. The first was an excellent effort but the second left Aspatria feeling a little hard done by.
A few moments later the scenario for Aspatria got worse as Atkinson was shown a yellow card, leaving them a man short and only a slender 12-10 interval lead when the wind had been behind them didn’t look enough.
Aspatria adapted very well to the challenge and for a full 20 minutes, play was generally in the Stockton half with the visitors in possession. This state of affairs ended as the game moved into the final quarter.
Stockton were now using a kicking game to take play deep into the Aspatria half. This was the correct tactic for the day and pressure began to mount on the visitors. On 62 minutes Aspatria were again down to 14 men as Watson made his way to the bin.
The Aspatria defensive effort had to be admired and they continued to rebuff some fierce onslaughts from Stockton. The lead continued until the 73rd minute when a successful penalty put the home side in front for the first time by a single point.
The final few minutes held drama for both teams. First up were Aspatria who did well to regain possession following the restart and launch an attack on the Stockton line.
The move broke down with Aspatria in good field position around the 22. Stockton launched a muck or nettles kick downfield that looked as if it must go dead and reward Aspatria with a scrum back when it did the opposite and took a wicked bounce of 90 degrees and went out close to the Aspatria line.
Stockton then seized back possession to score, seemingly at 20-12 also denying Aspatria a bonus point.
The referee indicated sufficient time remained to restart the game. Aspatria heads lifted and with great determination, possession was regained with movement flowing towards the Stockton line.
It got to the point where everyone knew the next play would end the game. So it did but thankfully for Aspatria it was prop Graham Andrews scrabbling along the deck who managed to get a pass out to on-rushing full-back Andrew Miller who raced over to salvage something from a very hard day’s work.
