Depleted Whitby no match for a rampant Ashington side

This was Ashington’s first home league match in Durham & Northumberland League 2 for some considerable time and in the end they romped to a comfortable victory.

Their man of the match, Ian Brierley, scored a try within two minutes from a line out catch and drive. Good passing in the Whitby 22 led to Ash 2nd row Johnson crashing over after eight minutes for a scoreline of 10-0 and shortly after Brierley was denied a try when he lost possession when crossing the line but made amends soon after when he crashed over from 5m with Arkle adding the conversion.

Just five minutes later Ashington fly half Eissa made great interception in his own half to pass to Dickinson who sprinted in from 30m to score with the conversion from Arkle for a 24-0 score.

Next to score was Cory Whitworth who picked up a dropped pass from the Whitby centres in the Ash half and he outsprinted the defence to score near the posts again converted by Arkle.

Before half time Brierly added his third try and veteran Darren Dickinson added his second with Arkle adding another conversion for a half time score of 43-0.

Ash started strongly in the second half adding tries by Johnson and Arkle in the first five minutes, both converted by Arkle and Arkle scored another from 40m out after 52 minutes which he converted for a 64-0 scoreline.

The Ash fullback, Andrew Elliott, making a long awaited return, was sin-binned for a high tackle near the Ash line and Whitby, to their credit, scored a late try and showed great spirit.

With Whitby down to 13 players, some of those carrying injuries, the referee decided to end the game some 20 minutes early.

On Saturday (October 25) the 1st XV are away to Bishop Auckland.

Ash Vets’ team played at Morpeth on Friday night and gave a great account of themselves, winning against Rockliffe and losing narrowly to Morpeth.

Ash 2nds played a charity match against North East Ambulance Service which was well contested with Ash just coming out on top.