Northumberland Senior Shield cup final win for Morpeth Reivers

It was a game that could have gone either way, but ultimately Morpeth won the game thanks to a try in the very last play of the game.

On reflection, it was a game they ultimately deserved to win – particularly with a composed second half performance, albeit a close run affair.

Despite the recent weather, the playing surface was excellent and allowed both sides to serve up an open and extremely competitive contest.

It was Ashington who drew first blood with a penalty on six minutes. It came via a storming run by hooker Henderson, which created pressure on the Morpeth defence.

There was absolutely nothing between the two sides; Ashington dominating scrums and Morpeth having a well organised line-out.

Then on 23 minutes, Morpeth took the lead. It came from an excellent driving line-out cleverly co-ordinated by the evergreen David Dickinson, who then handed on to Tom Dungait who still had plenty to do, but was able to weave his way through for a super score wide out. (3-5).

Better was to come for Morpeth when a strong Tom Dungait tackle saw Ashington concede a penalty that Harvey Gillie sent wide on 27 minutes.

Yet that Morpeth impetus was stopped in its tracks. Ashington, with a series of attacking scrums and then a quickly taken penalty, deservedly crossed for a converted try on 35 minutes.

Just when you thought that was the end of the scoring in a breathless first half, Morpeth’s Jack Wood made an outstanding break before Ashington were penalised and Gillie converted the penalty on 39 minutes to make the half time score 10-8.

The second half remained equally competitive. However, a reshuffled pack saw a far more stable Morpeth scrum.

Both sides moved the ball, seeking to play attractive rugby before an appreciative large crowd.

Gillie missed a good chance on 60 minutes to regain the lead, albeit the same player was able to pen Ashington back, kicking long and into space, creating attacking positions for Morpeth.

He was then back in the groove on 63 and 69 minutes, converting two penalties which made the score 10-14. The second came from an excellent driving line-out.

As the game went into the final 10 minutes, the home side took the initiative and ended up with an attacking line-out. A pick and drive followed and although it seemed the attack may have been repelled, a try was awarded.

An excellent conversion saw Ashington lead 17-14 after 73 minutes.

The last minutes of this epic encounter belonged to Morpeth. Another long Gillie punt initially set up an attacking position.

From there, it was constant pressure close to the Ashington line – who defended heroically. But Morpeth weren’t to be denied.

A stream of penalties accompanied numerous attacks and from a quickly taken tap, Elan Jobson crashed over in the corner.

Inevitably, with final kick of the game, Gillie triumphantly converted from the touchline to make it 17-21 at full time.

As for man-of-the-match, this was very much a team performance and it would be wrong to single out any individual.