Super performance The spirit is strong

BILLINGHAM LIONS V TYNEDALE
The Lions welcomed Tynedale seconds whose first team play in national One having once again had to cajole players into the side. They saw the addition of Shepherd (well one of them) and Mike Evans and Dalton seconded to the power house with Danny Robbo on the bench (but not for long) and Woodhouse taking his familiar nine shirt. After only two minutes the visitors were awarded a penalty and the deadly accuracy of their kicker was obvious. Just a minute later straight from the kick off Raey pressured the tackled man who gave us a penalty for holding on which Armstrong slotted from a difficult angle. Disaster struck after ten minutes when the huge frame of Buckley was left on the floor unable to continue. The Dale forwards might have been grateful until they saw the experience of Tojo both in the tight and open as he set about their front row with Hammond and Jamie giving away stones in weight but nothing in power. On the half hour the Lions pack roared with a superb scrum and pick and drive with Dan Westall spinning out of a tackle to score. Kick after kick from the visitors went deep into the lions half but Elgie seemed to have Velcro hands today as he showed a great deal of confidence catching and breaking out with Westall doing some great support work .Raey took a real stinger just on half time which saw him have to leave the field to be replaced by Coulle who set about knocking defenders over with powerful runs moving Evans into the back row. The lineout option which Phil gave us was to be missed and he spent the rest of the game bending Rob Hamers ears to get back on despite injury. HALF TIME BILLINGHAM LIONS 10 V TYNEDALE 3 Almost from the kick off Tynedale moved up the park and pulled back three points with a long drop goal. Bates who with centre partner Matty Westall had put in some great defensive work in the centres burst through a team tackle to make good ground but was left injured on the floor as we pressed forward. This brought Keenan into action and his first task was to set Mallam off on a very good run dancing around some very experienced defenders. Another two penalties saw Dale take the lead although there was a bit of head scratching from the Tynedale bench as to why at least one was given. With thirteen minutes gone the Lions set up a ruck and as Mike Evans picked up and unfortunately used Danny Westalls face as a starting block and Kemp had to replace him. More penalties saw Billingham trail by eight points with three quarters of the game gone despite some outstanding defensive work. Mallum was hit hard after a trademark run and Bates came back on to fill the centre again despite an injured shoulder After twenty five minutes after several rucks a rolling maul saw Evans bring Billingham back within three points. Two quick tries is succession saw the visitors increase their lead to fifteen points despite resolute defending. From the restart Hopley was very unlucky on the return as he took the ball deep in his own half and weaved through to their twenty and only a tap tackle stopped him scoring. The final ten minutes saw Billingham Lions batter the Dale defence camped almost entirely in their half, but penalties kept pushing the lions back. With five minutes to go a scrum saw Jamie pinch one against the head and Woody broke, passed back inside to Shep who put in a massive miss pass to Keenan out wide. With the full back out of position he sprinted round him to score in the corner with Armstrong slotting a difficult kick. Although the Lions continued to hammer the Tynedale line they were unable to improve on the score as the final whistle brought a very good game to an end. The Spirit was back.
Reporters comment. To many penalties but a great squad performance unlucky not to get the Win Quote of the day “I hope it has not spoiled my good looks” Dan Westall
FULL TIME BILLINGHAM LIONS 22 V TYNEDALE 30 Tries D. Westall, M. Evans, D. Keenan
Kicks: Armstrong 2 Conversions, 1 Penalty