Aspatria went down to a 27-25 defeat at Morpeth for whom the win offers a prospect of salvation in their struggle to avoid relegation from Regional 2 North.
Morpeth fought hard for the victory and home supporters acknowledged that it was their best performance for some time.
It really had to be, to stave off the threat offered by Aspatria who had grounds to claim that had the referee been better positioned at an incident in the closing minutes they would have taken all five points on offer.
Morpeth established a 7-0 lead within the first couple of minutes after a home attack got underway around halfway.
An early kick over the Aspatria defence and into space caused confusion among the defenders. Morpeth won the first race to the ball and kicked onward to the line where a second race was also successful, delivering early points.
Following the try, play was relatively even. A penalty from Aspatria’s Matty Irving brought three points shortly before an attack by Morpeth should have delivered more home success.
An attack on the Aspatria line looked to have brought try number two2 but some last ditch tackling by the visitors was enough to dislodge the ball in the act of scoring.
A let=off for Aspatria but this was followed by the first yellow card of the day for the visitors. It was a harsh call on Aspatria captain Jack Gaskell who was deemed to have committed a high tackle when a Morpeth attacker simply stumbled in his run towards the big prop and crashed into his shoulder.
Morpeth increased the lead on 25 minutes with a penalty but Aspatria’s provided a rapid response to draw level.
The success of the move owed much to Irving’s superb penalty kick that moved play nearly 60 metres deep into the Morpeth 22.
Aspatria’s forwards took the line-out and put in several phases on the try line before scrum half Alex Barton spotted a gap to dart through and over.
Into the final minutes of the first half Morpeth again established a three-point lead with a penalty but it was short-lived.
Aspatria took over the lead following a short period of precision passing that slowly dragged defenders out of position. This created a gap on the left flank and Irving’s pace took him on an arcing run to dot down in the corner.
His touchline conversion smashed against the post leaving Aspatria with a 15-13 advantage.
There was still time to re-start and these final seconds provided Morpeth with a dangerous attacking opportunity. It came to nought but in this final action Aspatria suffered a second yellow card with hooker Adam Cavanagh walking.
Again it seemed harsh, noting some of the infringements committed by Morpeth that went unpunished.
Into the second half and it took no time at all for Morpeth to re-establish a single point lead courtesy of a penalty.
In the early stages of the half a melee broke out in front of the Aspatria coaching bench involving several players of both teams.
The cause was clear to Aspatria, who felt winger Andrew Miller had been badly fouled. The referee could not be expected to have a good view of this as live play continued up-field.
The standard judgement was passed in that one player from both teams should receive a yellow card, but again this seemed harsh from an Aspatria viewpoint.
That episode over, it kick started a powerful spell for Morpeth.
Through a good forwards effort on 53 minutes they improved their lead to 21-15 and more points were threatened.
On 60 minutes Morpeth disrupted a promising Aspatria attack and were able to hack the ball downfield. It looked to be a repeat of their first try but the final kick had just too much power and although Morpeth won the race the ball had crossed the dead-ball line.
The decision should have been an Aspatria scrum back where the ball was last kicked but the referee concluded that it should be a goal line drop out.
Against the breeze Aspatria gained little ground and in the subsequent defence conceded a penalty through which Morpeth increased the lead to 24-15.
Deep into the final quarter it looked as if Morpeth had given their all and Aspatria began to achieve some ascendancy.
Heinie Jonker had joined the Aspatria attack from the bench and his powerful surges inspired those around him.
With ten minutes remaining it was Jonker who put Aspatria on the front foot and into the home 22.
The attack was halted more than once by a desperate home defence but Aspatria would not be denied and a short run by Irving did the trick. His conversion put Aspatria back in business at 24-22.
A couple of minutes later Aspatria snatched the lead with another Irving penalty. Only a single point advantage but this was followed up by what should have been the try that won the match.
The catalyst was the excellent Mark Watson who had taken over at scrum half and against a tiring defence his sniping runs were causing havoc.
One such run had Watson under the posts facing a last ditch tackle. He turned to pass the ball to an onrushing Andrew Miller who was near certain to score but was clearly held back by a Morpeth man. It should have been a penalty try but that was not the decision, much to the anguish of all in the Aspatria camp.
Into the final couple of minutes and Aspatria looked capable of defending their single point lead but made an error trying to play out of defence and this handed Morpeth a penalty from distance but straight in front of the posts to recapture the lead.
Still enough time to re-start. Aspatria moved up-field but the ball was with Morpeth in a ruck situation.
The body language of the Aspatria pack was unanimous that they had regained the ball and provide Irving with a chance of a penalty to win the game.
It was not to be as the referee saw it differently and handed the decision to the home side to end the game.
