Aspatria’s final game of the season, which ended in a 38-12 win at Sunderland, was also the most important.
The Black Reds simply had to win to consolidate a fifth place finish in Durham Northumberland League One and open up a potential route to promotion.
The pending re-organisation of the English leagues has not yet been finalised and Aspatria now have an agonising wait to find out if that hard earned 5th spot will deliver them a bump up the league ladder.
With 6th place West Hartlepool waiting in the wings Aspatria had no room for error against a Sunderland side who have improved measurably over the season. The visitor’s needed a positive start to settle nerves and they got it. Taking the ball from the kick off Aspatria moved upfield with purpose, centre Ryan Scott provided the early go forward before Joe Beaty took over and put stand-off Josh Watson in under the posts with only two minutes on the clock.
Sunderland responded positively to the early setback and embarked on a mission to pin Aspatria back into the 22.
This was the first of several occasions throughout the game that Sunderland would hold dominance in terms of field position. The difference between the teams was simply that the home side failed to convert territory into points.
On the other hand, when Aspatria attacked they were lethal and always seemed to return with some reward.
Aspatria were well organised in defence, and they had to be. Sunderland threw everything at them and at times came agonisingly close to levelling the game.
With 25 minutes played the sum total of the home side’s war of attrition was nil and eventually Aspatria were able to rid themselves of the stranglehold and move play away from the danger area.
On 30 minutes a penalty handed Aspatria a line-out five metres out. It was untidy but the ball was retained and the Aspatria pack ground out a way to the try line.
Several probes came close to a score and each took a toll on the defenders. Scrum-half Jack Clegg spotted a developing weakness and squeezed through a gap to dot down before adding his second conversion.
With five minutes of the half remaining a solo effort from Scott provided Aspatria with breathing space.
It really was a classy try from the young centre, beating off several tackles on his way to the line.
Aspatria looked likely to end the first half 21-0 to the good but Sunderland had other ideas and with the last move of the half struck back.
The starting point was a line-out around 15 metres out which was superbly engineered and evolved into a driving maul for which Aspatria had no answer.
Aspatria took a 21-7 advantage into the second half to leave Sunderland wondering how this was possible in a game which, apart from the score line, was a very even one.
The pattern of play in the second half did not alter dramatically. From the outset Aspatria’s defence had to resume duties as Sunderland applied pressure.
It took nearly ten minutes for Aspatria to escape and turn the tables. A succession of penalties given up by Sunderland allowed the visitors to close in on the try line.
Kickable penalties were spurned in pursuit of a fourth try, and in the context of the game not taking a guaranteed three points was a bold decision by captain Matthew Atkinson.
It paid off in the 53rd minutes as Aspatria wore down the home defence and it was Atkinson who bludgeoned his way over the line to extend the lead.
Sunderland were far from out of this contest. In possession they looked fully capable of striking back but just seemed to lack that final piece of the jigsaw, regularly failing to punch through Aspatria’s determined defensive wall.
The clock continued to tick down and Aspatria reached the final ten minutes without conceding but still with plenty left in the tank to engineer a grandstand finish.
On 73 minutes Gary Hodgson a fixture in the Aspatria team for many seasons and playing his last game ahead of retirement scored a classic.
The big man came into possession 30 metres out and blasted through the line of defence to take the ball all the way to the posts much to the jubilation of the entire Aspatria team.
Minutes later left winger Jason Ward launched himself down the touchline leaving the cover defence flat footed and with little chance of catching him.
There was still time to restart the game and reward Sunderland with a score which their overall play deserved.
