Morpeth RFC return home from Teesside empty handed after defeat at Middlesbrough

Unfortunately, for a mixture of reasons, the team was without stalwarts Alex Thompson, Sam Hornby and Elliott Clark, but on the plus side, welcomed back winger Nathan Arkle from an ankle niggle.

Sadly, Morpeth began the game badly. A poor defensive effort, with only skipper Jack Elliott applying full commitment to the cause, saw the Mitford Road outfit falling off tackles, allowing Boro to score a soft converted try on five minutes.

Slowly, Morpeth got to grip with their task, albeit Boro always looked the more dangerous. Probably against the run of play, the visitors scored a penalty, converted by full back Kieran Smith.

Better was to come for Morpeth. Micky Hall, voted the Scoop’s Man of the Match, playing in the centre, scored a really good individual effort. From 30 metres or so, he went on a storming run, bouncing off would-be tacklers before touching down near the posts, for Smith to convert, on 19 minutes. Morpeth had gained an undeserved lead.

Yet back came Boro. Another score for the home side, again courtesy of some poor Morpeth defending, saw the Teessiders regain the lead.

There is nothing wrong with the spirit of this Morpeth side. On 38 minutes they moved the ball along the line with some really good handling, before the ball reached Nathan Arkle, who had still much to do.

However, the winger beat his opposite number, then the full back, to score a really good try.

The second half saw the home side dominate, ending the game as worthy victors.

Two successive penalties on 41 and 48 minutes kept the scoreboard ticking over. This was followed by further tries on 56, 65 and 75 minutes to give a more accurate scoreline. As for Morpeth, with a malfunctioning line-out, they were unable to gain a foothold in the match.

That said, they never stopped giving their all. Their admirable efforts were rewarded with a Jake Stevenson unconverted try almost on time. The final score was 37-20 to the home team.