Newcastle Thunder 28 - 32 Rochdale Hornets

Rochdale Hornets secured a vital win and earned revenge for their defeat earlier in the season as they came home from Kingston Park with two points after beating Newcastle Thunder.

Hornets always had their opponents at arms-length and lead by 12 points on two separate occasions before a late try from the hosts looked to have snatched a point, however Matty Beharrell’s conversion was dragged across the face of the posts.

Hornets came out of the blocks fast with two early scores, the first of which finished off by Wayne English as he supported Dale Bloomfield’s brilliant break down the left side. Paul Crook converted, and in doing so notched up 500 career goals.

After nine minutes they were 12-0 up thanks to James Tilley’s offload, as the loose forward somehow got the ball out of the tackle to find Danny Bridge who barged over.

Newcastle got themselves back in the game after 18 minutes when Tom Capper cut back inside to slice through the Hornets defence and score.

They levelled when Beharrell found Joe Brown with a flat ball and the centre raced over from 20 metres out. Beharrell converted.

Newcastle sucked Hornets into an arm wrestle for the remainder of the half and their forward pack muscled up well, although they couldn’t stop Rochdale taking a lead into the break as the impressive Alex McClurg darted through the defensive line from dummy half and sent over Matty Fozard. Danny Yates converted.

Newcastle Thunder 12 - 18 Rochdale Hornets

Honrets picked up where they left off in the second half as Yates forced a drop-out and from the resulting set Ryan Smith dummied his way through a hole which opened up in front of him. Yates had the simple task of converting and made no mistake.

Newcastle refused to lie down and got themselves back on top when Ali Blair plucked Beharrell’s cross-field bomb out of the air to score a converted try.

With a quarter of the game remaining Newcastle were level again as Evan Simmons jumped from dummy half to break the line and draw the fullback, with Beharrell touching down and converting his own effort.

The usually reliable Paul Crook came up with an uncharacteristic penalty goal miss five minutes later but with 11 minutes left on the clock Hornets were in again with the try of the game. English came up with a brilliant break through the heart of the defence after returning a kick and Lee Paterson showed great pace to round the fullback and score under the posts. Crook wasn’t going to miss twice as he put his side 30-24 up.

It was a case of seeing the game out for Hornets but it looked like they were about to be robbed of a point when Beharrell, who was a stand-out for his side, broke from deep within his own half and Matty Marsh eventually finished in the corner. Bloomfield’s effort to chase down the halfback ultimately meant that Beharrell couldn’t convert and bring the scores level.

Hornets then forced an error from the kick-off and were awarded a penalty as Newcastle attempted to overturn the scrum, which handed Crook the perfect opportunity to seal the win on the hooter with a successful penalty goal.

The win lifted Hornets to third in the Kingstone Press League One table as they keep the pressure on the top two, one of which they face next week when they make the short journey to local rivals Oldham for a derby clash.

Newcastle Thunder: Stu Kain, Tom Capper, Ali Blair, Joe Brown, Macauley Hallet, Matty Beharrel, Matty Marsh, Matty Barron, Evan Simmons, Mark Mexico, Dayne Craig, Jason Payne, Charlie Wabo.
Subs: Paul Stamp, Lee Fewlass, Sebastian Martins, Fran Welsh.

Rochdale Hornets: Wayne English, Brad Hargreaves, Lee Paterson, Jack Ashworth, Dale Bloomfield, Ryan Smith, Danny Yates, Warren Thompson, Paul Crook, Matty Hadden, Danny Bridge, Jordan Case, James Tilley.
Subs: John Cookson, Danny Jones, Alex McClurg, Matty Fozard.

Referee: Gareth Hewer

Attendance: 678