New Brighton . . . . . . . . . .38pts, Tynedale . . . . . . . . . . 19pts

REEDS Lane became a fortress again, on Saturday, as New Brighton recaptured the early season form which had taken them to the top of Thwaites League North Division table, brushing aside a useful looking Tynedale with a convincing scoreline - and looking once more to be genuine championship contenders as they bid for National League glory.

Cup action and a waterlogged pitch caused the postponements which launched New Brighton on a demanding schedule of away games. It is nine weeks since the Blues last played a league game at home, but on Saturday fortress Reeds Lane proved just the tonic they were looking for.

Alex Guest put the Blues 6-0 ahead with two well taken penalties on three and seven minutes. His trusty boot hit home again with a conversion on nine minutes after Andy Whalley had thrilled the crowd with a moment's brilliance on the right wing.

Whalley's electric pace took him around the defence before chipping the full back with delightful skill, catching his own kick at full speed to score in spectacular style for 13-0.

The visitors moved deep into New Brighton territory for the first time after 12 minutes, but centre Moses spooned a penalty attempt.

New Brighton, looking like champions, swept back and their pressure produced two more penalty chances, on 19 and 23 minutes, for Guest. His kicking was outstanding and New Brighton eased into a commanding 19-0 lead.

Moses missed a further penalty attempt for Tynedale, but, following a series of penalties against New Brighton for collapsed scrums, 16-stone Tongan winger Epi Tiane crashed over to score under the posts. Moses found his kicking boots and Tynedale were on the scoreboard after 34 minutes at 19-7.

Immediately, New Brighton drove midway into the visitors' half. Wright raced a full 35 yards to score and Guest augmented the conversion for a 26-7 half-time lead.

Mark Lee scored an early try for Tynedale at the start of the second-half to make it 26-12.

Jeff Jones scored for the Blues on 57 minutes and Hodgers on 75, Guest kicking one of the conversions to stretch the score to 38-12.

In the dying minutes, Tynedale took a quick tap to launch substitute James Shotton on a scoring run. Moses added the conversion to complete the scoring.

New Brighton: Ian Kennedy, Andy Whalley, Sion O'Hare, John O'Boyle, Steve Hancock, Alex Guest, Simon Wright, Sean Mooney, Mike Gazzola, Karl Davis, Steve Dorrington, Shaun Gallagher, Carl Turley, Jeff Jones, Kevin Brookman, Lee Hodgers, Garry Fisher, Chris Bentley, Lol Connor, Hywel Williams, Greg Bourne.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.