For the first 18 minutes, Novos dominated the game looking like they were the league leaders, after good work from the forwards the ball was fired out to fly half Angus Walker who crashed over the try line. Sadly, for Novos it was deemed to be held up, TV ref would have awarded the try as there were no hands of an Alnwick player anywhere near the ball.

With the set back Novos switched off with a penalty in their own 22, instead of kicking the ball into touch Shaun Stewart tried to run the ball but ended up throwing the ball up in the air, before Wayne Henaghan tried to kick the ball clear but forgot to actually kick the ball. Wayne just dropped the ball, which allowed an Alnwick player to pick up and dive in the corner. The conversion was missed to give Alnwick an undeserved 5-0 lead.

Novos began to dominate again and nearly scored but every time they could not finish off good moves.

Brian Keith missed a good chance to score after a chip by Tommy Wilson Snr was gather by Tommy Wilson Jnr who off loaded to Keith who couldn’t quite hold on.

With 35 minutes on the clock old father time Will Moses went off to be replaced by utility forward Alan Pitchford who moved to the back row with Henaghan moving to hooker.

Tommy Wilson Jnr picked the ball up in his own half crashed through 5 tackles one involved him rolling the defender over his back, this gave Novos a good platform to launch an attack.

Novos kept possession well and eventually from a ruck, 2 meter out James Desmond crashed over for his fourth try of the season, doubling the over all distance that he has scored from. Gus Walker smashed the conversion over, giving Novos a 7-5 lead at half time.

Novos started the second half off brightly after 42 minutes Dave Henry replaced Tommy Wilson Jnr.

Novos began to give away sloppy penalties, which allowed Alnwick to kick an easy 3 points to take the lead.

Alex Twinn replaced Tommy Wilson Snr after 45 minutes.

Novos were attacking well but the 50 50 decisions began to go against them.

Several times Novos attacked but were just unable to score, one time the ball was trapped in Brian Keith’s knees when chasing a kick ahead.

With 65 minutes gone, Mike Cousins came on to replace Paul Sanderson in the front row.

Novos began to lose their flow and were allowing Alnwick more possession and a field position. With 68 minutes on the clock, Alnwick won a controversial penalty in the Novos 22, which they kicked to extend their lead to 11-7.

Injured skipper Ian Pratt came on to replace Damien Foggen.

From the restart, Wayne Henaghan and Ian Pratt chased well and managed to turn the ball over allowing Novos to unleash their quick back line. Dave Henry made good ground before putting Richard Seed in space who nearly broke away before he off loaded to Ian Pratt. Pratt looked like he was going to score in the corner, before a last ditch tackle stopped him, the offload found Stevie G who was stopped a meter short before he was bundled into touch.

Alnwick were not panicking and kept asking the ref how long was left and kept kicking the ball out at every opportunity. Novos threatened to score several times during the last 10 minutes but could not cross the Alnwick try line.

Full time Alnwick 11 – Novos 7, the score was not a reflection on how Novos played.

This is the fourth time that the Development team have lost by less than a converted try in the league this season. Novos have been very unlucky and most teams are surprised that they prop the table up, but when dominating games putting chances away has been the downfall so far this season.

Everyone had excellent games but stand out man of the match was Steve Gittins who put in a storming game using his whole body to good effect.