Injuries mar the rout for Mowden

12:26pm Monday 17th March 2008

Darlington Mowden Park 60 West Park St Helens 21

MOWDEN Park might have to throttle back slightly from Saturday's high-speed entertainment as there was a price to pay through injuries to both wingers.

Going flat out for the promotion play-off place in National Three North has resulted in a six-point cushion with three games to go and they can afford to relax for the next couple of weeks.

First comes a Durham Cup tie at home to Westoe, when victory would produce the dilemma of what sort of side to field in a likely repeat of last year's final against Blaydon.

As they were going for promotion Blaydon fielded a weakened team.

This time the boot would be on the other foot, which is a shame as a clash between two full-strength sides would be a real spectacle.

Leicester Lions faded further from the promotion picture when they lost at Bradford and Bingley on Saturday, and Mowden would also be encouraged by Cinderford being held 22-22 at struggling Clifton.

It increased the likelihood of the Gloucestershire club hosting Mowden in the play-off and suggested that they are feeling the strain.

Gareth Kerr pulled a quad muscle in completing his hat-trick in the last act of Saturday's game, and while there was also a treble for centre James Clarke his twin Chris suffered a torn hamstring.

Hooker Sean Buckley also managed only 20 minutes because of a back problem after replacing Ross Batty in the second half.

Other changes took some of the sting out of the performance, especially once the quietly efficient string-pulling of skipper Jamie Connolly had been removed, with Scott Riddell switching from No 8 to inside centre.

But it didn't stop James Clarke completing his hat-trick with a thrilling replica of his second try as his acceleration took him outside his opposite man before switching his line to race 30 metres to the posts.

With back row men Aaron Myers and Riddell, plus hooker Batty, matching the pace and handling of the backs, Mowden looked theatening whenever they had the ball.

Not for the first time this season, they were content to soak up pressure for the first five minutes before showing their visitors how to make possession count.

The initial pressure resulted from a failure to collect the kick-off, but despite recycling the ball six times West Park made no progress at all.

Mowden broke out and surged into a 19-0 lead. A fourth try on the half hour was sandwiched by two converted tries by the visitors' inside centre, but Mowden scored twice more in first half injury time to lead 36-14.

In a game featuring several lengthy injury stoppages there was no need for an interfering tough judge to further penalise thoroughly beaten visitors.

Myers, Iain Dixon, Paul Vinnicombe and Robbie Kalbraier completed the ten-try rout, with Jon Benson adding three conversions and replacement Ben Snook two.

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