There have been a number of narrow defeats for Upper Eden this season in National 2 North.
But they managed to finish on the right end of another encounter with a 15-12 home win against Middlesbrough.
The Pennine Park men fully deserved the victory as they worked tirelessly all game tackling well and chasing every ball.
They have buckled down well to training as a squad and their efforts and commitment were well rewarded by the final score.
From the kick off the home team set-out their stall by launching an attack into the visitors’ half. They put several good phases of play together before a knock-on gave the momentum to Middlesbrough.
They, in turn, gained good field position in the Eden half and began testing Eden’s defence with some good support play matched by effectively moving the ball wide.
Will Birkbeck, and the back row of Fin Rose, Josh Winder and Sam Birkbeck were prominent in defence for Eden but following a series of penalties to the visitors the ball was clinically transferred out wide for them to score the opening unconverted try.
From the restart Will and James Birkbeck combined well to drive the ball into the heart of the Boro 22.
Swift recycling by the home forwards and excellent service from scrum half Ollie Rose gave the Eden backs a good platform to attack but unfortunately the ball was mishandled in mid-field giving the advantage back to the Boro team.
The visitors were sound in their ball retention and handling, and following a series of moves across the pitch they moved the ball cleanly to score a converted try and extend their lead to 12-0.
Despite trailing Eden were playing with a lot of heart and put some good phases together featuring strong drives from Travis Simpson, James Birkbeck, Fin Rose and Matthew Brass.
Just before half-time they were awarded a penalty for offside on the opposition 22 metre line and Oliver Bennett landed the kick for a 3-12 interval deficit.
The second half started with Eden having some good possession. When they were awarded a scrum on the visitors’ 22 metre line.
Ollie Rose made a neat break to feed his brother Fin who crossed to score a try which cut the gap to four points.
The next 20 minutes saw both teams going head-to-head and nullifying their opponents’ best efforts.
Rupert Civil and Rob Dent were both effective in defence and in particular Civil made an impression
on the game, creating attacking options along with Alexander Darroch in midfield.
Winder and Civil were prominent at the breakdowns and when an attack on the Boro 22 resulted in a scrum to the home side Ollie Rose made a good break from the base.
He fed Liam Fox who linked well with Civil and Ollie Rose was on hand to receive the ball back and cross for a well worked try. Bennett converted.
With only minutes remaining, Middlesborough launched several attacks on the Eden line but the home team’s defence was solid, disciplined and they thwarted all the visitors’ efforts.
They eventually retained possession and cleared their lines to end the game with an important victory in which Sam Birkbeck was their man of the match.
A youthful Upper Eden Boars faced stiff opposition against an experienced Middlesborough Wasps side and after a good contest went down 31-22.
The Boars were boosted by the return of veteran “Small Paul Alderson” who made a welcome addition to the squad.
Try scorers for the Boars were Cameron Scott, Jake Edgar and Sean Winder with conversions by Jay
Elliott (2) and Cameron Scott (1). Man of the match was Bobby Ivinson.
Match day sponsor was NJM Developments Ltd.
