Last gasp defeat for Ashington rugby

They got off to a bad start conceding an easy penalty in front of the posts inside two minutes.

Play was even for the next quarter of an hour until Ash created a great score by attacking wide out on both sides of the pitch before creating a clear overlap for fullback Jarvis to score a try in the right corner.

On the half hour Ash again conceded a penalty on their own 22m line allowing Bishop to take the lead 6-5.

Soon after Ash won a turnover ball in the attacking 22 and Clarke scored wide out, making the half time score 10-9 to Ash

Immediately from the restart Bishop launched a good attack from half way which was well finished off by the left winger, followed by an excellent conversion to give the visitors the lead once more 16-10.

Ash struck back with a penalty by skipper Arkle. Then followed the try of the match when Ash broke from their own line with some great passing and handling to create an overlap for left winger Dodgson to sprint in from halfway. With the conversion by Arkle good it gave Ash the lead 20-19.

But again Bishop came back and scored their second try from a 5m lineout, well converted once more to retake the lead, 26-20.

Ash pressed forward and were rewarded with their fourth try scored by Greg Henderson, who crashed over through two tackles. Arkle again converting on 73 minutes for a a slender 27-26 lead for the home side.

Once again Ash were undone by conceding a penalty with only two minutes left and this resulted in the winning score for the visitors.

Having scored four tries to two, Ash could count themselves very unfortunate to lose this game but the performance overall was a big improvement on the first two games of the season.

On Saturday Ash are away to Gateshead.