Wirral 20 Blaydon 55

WIRRAL were in control of this game against play-off hopefuls Blaydon until the 45th minute when an interception try set up the Blaydon comeback, to which ultimately Wirral had no answer.

Fielding a weakened team following a number of injuries, Wirral played a controlled defensive game for the first 27 minutes of the game before taking the lead with a James Annetts penalty.

On 36 minutes, pressure on the Wirral line resulted in back row, Mark Jenkinson crashing over from a couple of metres out and duly converted to give Blaydon the lead 3-7.

The lead was short-lived as Wirral kept Blaydon in their 20m area and went close before Ryan Stead weaved his way over for his first try of the season, converted by James Annetts to enable the home side to retake the lead 10-7.

In the final play before half-time, Blaydon received their first sin bin and Wirral opted for the scrum rather than the easy three points.

This was rewarded with sharp passing to the left, which allowed Dan Harvey to squeeze over in the corner and against the wind the try was converted by James Annetts from the touchline to leave Wirral ahead 17-7 at the break.

With the breeze in their favour Wirral continued to attack and were in a promising position when a long pass to set up an overlap was intercepted by Blaydon on 45 minutes as they ran in from 70m to score under the posts.

This turned out to be the turning point of the game, as within two minutes they scored again to take the lead 17-21.

Wirral had no reaction to this rejuvenated Blaydon as they then scored their bonus point try and a penalty before Wirral reduced the arrears with a James Annetts penalty to leave the score 20-29 after 55 minutes.

In the final 11 minutes of the game handicapped by further injuries and two sin bins Wirral collapsed, enabling Blaydon to run in four more tries, three of which were converted to give Blaydon a flattering winning score line.

The injuries now being incurred in this and previous matches are having an effect on this small Wirral squad, that will be looking to bounce back in the remaining games of the season as players drift back into contention.