Novos 20, Ryton 13 - November Fight Back

Squad news - as usual several changes in the squad as Mike Stowe, Rob Murphy, Jonno Wilkes and Carl Parkinson returned to the squad after lengthy absences. In addition, George Bambrick made his debut off the bench.

Ryton were much changed from last season but started the game knowing that this was a good opportunity for them to knock us over. They started well and were able to kick two penalties with the conditions at their backs. Ryton up 6-0 within the first 15 mins.

We finally settled into the game and the forwards battled to win the gain line battle. There were some decent carries from Pete Twentyman, Nick Arbuckle, Luke Foster, Ben Merrett and Jez Nash. This allowed us to work our way up field which eventually led to a Jonno Wilkes penalty. Ryton up 6-3.

We were defending a lot better than in recent matches with a determination to tackle low and put their big lads onto the floor. Foster and Alex Littlefair led the tackle count chopping down the big oaks of Ryton. Despite having the conditions Ryton didn't look like crossing our line in the first half.

Ryton picked up some early injuries and did look to tire quickly. We carried well at times and after a couple of bumps we moved the ball to the outside centre channel. Sam Busby broke through and raced in from distance to make it 8-6 to Novos. Ryton were struggling with our pace out wide and Wilkes was the next one to race over leaving a trail of defenders behind him. Half time Novos up 13-6 with the wind now at our back.

Unfortunately, Ryton scored a pretty soft try in the first min of the second half. This made the score 13-13 and lifted the Ryton lads efforts to ensure the game was competitive for the rest of the half.

Carl Parkinson made a great impact of the bench and made some telling line breaks. We looked at our best when we attacked from deep when our opponents were set to receive a kick. On one such occasion we moved the ball to Jez Nash who put away Busby. Sam raced the 80m to score what would turn out to be the winner. Conversion added by Wilkes for a 20-13 score line.

To Ryton's credit they never gave up at tried to nick a draw at the end but our low tackling and line speed kept them out for a much needed win.

Thank you to the ref who I thought was probably they best we have had all season. His decision making was excellent for and against us. Hopefully, we will have him again this season.

Cheers to the Ryton lads. The game was played in the right spirit and injuries did not help you at all. It was a competitive match and I'm sure you will knock a few sides over this season.

For our lads, great to get a win in the first week of a huge month. We have some winnable games this month including a massive double header against Gateshead on the 26th. Hopefully, a few bodies will be back in training the next few weeks as we build towards that game. Next week we are home to Stockton, another big game given both sides proximity to the relegation zone. It will be a tough game but we are more than capable of getting back to back wins as we look to climb the table.

The lads send their congrats to Gav and Jan on the birth of their son. We wish them all the best and we have our fingers crossed he is going to be as big as Gav but as hard as Jan !

See you all Monday. Up the Vos !