Avengers Part 3 !

It has been a tough week for Novos.. Saturday vs Ashington, Tuesday vs The Poly and then an away trip to Prudhoe yesterday. However, Novos without some important players came together again and got the win they wanted.

It did not come easy as P&S raced to a 15-0 lead, pouncing on a tired looking Novos side. This year the Novos boys have showed great spirit and after a talking to by Jamie Wallace, the lads decided they would not use tiredness as an excuse.

Finally, Novos maintained possession enabling them to up the tempo of the game. Some great play by the forwards led to a break by the backs. James Parkinson tracked the break all the way up the field and was at hand to get the offload. The try was converted by Dan Bollado, who was to go on to have a good day with the boot. P&S 15-7.

Playing up a steep hill and into the wind Novos were now keeping ball in hand. More breaks in the backs especially by Bollado who was causing havoc. Pressure led to several penalties, all taken quickly. Finally, Pete Twentyman took another quick tap to crash over from his usual distance of 5m. Converted again by Bollado. P&S 15-14.

Just when we looked like taking control P & S made a break, were awarded a penalty which the duly kicked. P&S 18-14.

This only spurred us on to our best period of the match as we scored three unanswered tries. Parkinson grabbed his second, Rob Squire went in and Jonathon Smith scored. These were all converted by Bollado. Novos 35-18.

P&S are in a relegation battle and never gave up. They scored a try to bring it back to 35-23.

The refs whistle sounded and we were all relieved a hard week was finally over. Thanks to the ref who I thought had an excellent game. He was clear in his communication to the players and penalised those that did not listen !

The day got even better when we heard Ashington had helped us gain promotion by beating Redcar ! Handshakes all round, hopfully some one hugged Rob !?

In a season where we had looked to have thrown it away, we have gone on a great run. We have only lost one league match since late October !! We can now look forward to the last two games at home. A massive game on Saturday as we entertain Bishop Auckland. Of the four sides who have beaten us, we have Avenged three. It would show that we have learnt from all of our losses if we can win on Saturday.

We should be at full strength this week as we try to chase an unlikely championship win. Victory on Saturday would take the title chase down to the last day of results.