PERCY Park condemned Alnwick to their third straight league defeat of the season as the Tyne and Wear side romped to a 30-0 triumph.

Winless Alnwick have had a tough start to the season, travelling to promotion favourites Northern on the opening day before hosting unbeaten and second-placed Hartlepool Rovers last week.

And their trip to Preston Avenue on Saturday was no different.

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Park are the division's early pace setters. Having won all three of their matches this term the table-topping Tyne and Wear outfit have scored 112 points, conceding just 8 in the process.

And their class was clear to see as they dominated against the Greensfield side.

A fine kicking display from Park's Simon Greatham piled more misery on Alnwick and tries from Brett Sylph, James Punton and Liam Blackburn helped Park maintain their unbeaten start to the campaign.

Park began the rout on the half-hour. They were awarded a scrum, and had a numerical advantage when the Alnwick tight head prop had been sin binned for slowing up the ball near his try line.

Sylph picked up from number 8 but was stopped short, but Alnwick were penalized, and the skipper took a quick tap from 5 metres and crashed over.
Greatham was unable to convert the extra points.

With the first period coming to an end, Alnwick decided to run a counter attack from their own 22, only to be penalized for holding on, and Greatham kicked a penalty to take an 8–0 lead into the break.

The hosts extended their lead 10 minutes in the second-half. Park were awarded a scrum inside the Alnwick 22. Captain Sylph picked up and charged for the line, fending-off would be tacklers. Realising he was going to make the line, he cheekily passed the ball behind his back to the supporting James Ponton who went over the line under the posts to score. Simon Greatham stepped up and took the extra points on offer.

With 57 minutes on the clock Alnwick were penalised inside their own half, and from 40metres out Greatham extended the Park tally to 18 points with the penalty kick.

From the kick-off Park moved the ball back into the Alnwick half, but lost possession, and the visitors cleared their lines, but the kick didn't make touch but found left wing Liam Blackburn who ran through several attempted tackles and broke through to score a fine individual try, and with another Greatham conversion Park led 25–0.

Alnwick came close to scoring on a couple of occasions; the closest being when Sylph high-tackled winger Shell, and was lucky not to go to the sin bin, as a clear scoring opportunity had been thwarted.

Park completed the rout in injurytime with a disputed try. The Preston Avenue side had a series of scrums close to the Alnwick line and were going for a push-over try, but the Northumbrians held firm and scrum after scrum was reset. Sylph again picked up from the base of a scrum only to be stopped inches short of the line. Thomas Turnbull picked up the loose ball and dived over the line, and the try was awarded, but hotly disputed by the Alnwick skipper Stu Archer, who felt Turnbull had picked up the ball whilst on the ground and therefore out of the game. The try however stood, and Park were awarded a penalty from the restart for the dissent.

Phil Morse stepped up with no time remaining to attempt the penalty kick from halfway but was unsuccessful, leaving Alnwick on the wrong-side of a 30-0 drubbing.

And things don't get any easier for Alnwick. The blue 'n' golds, now second from bottom, host Gosforth on Saturday. Gosforth have won all three games this term and will travel to Alnwick on the back of a 10-7 home win against basement side Sunderland.

FULL LIST OF RESULTS FROM DURHAM & NORTHUMBERLAND DIVISION ONE (Saturday, September 27 2008)

Consett 33 Stockton 22

Gosforth 10 Sunderland 7

Hartlepool Rovers 25 Horden 15

Northern 7 Wallsend 19

Percy Park 30 Alnwick 0

Ryton 8 Ashington 9