North Premier Prediction League -Week 12 results

#wecontinuetobuild
Billingham welcomed Blackburn to Greenwood Road in front of a large Billingham crowd in what nearly sprung a surprise upset.


Billingham were quickly out of the blocks from the kick off when the ball was spun wide to Nathan Myers who barged his way over the white wash. Conversion missed. 5-0.

As the kick off restarted the game a fine Walton catch saw play on the 15 metre line. Sam Wilson making his second start of the season fed Jackson who ran behind his support player. The ref adjudged crossing. A kick to the corner, lineout followed another penalty to Blackburn which was kickable.
5-3

Billingham restarted and again showed their attacking threat after winning a penalty. A line out quickly found it self to Luke Wilson who barrelled himself up the middle. A switch of play found Elliot Husband on the wing who darted into the corner for a fine finish. Missed conversion.
10-3

Blackburn tightened the game up and made some early substitutions swapping their props to give them a break. It wasn't long before Blackburns robust pack were dominating the game. Phase after phase Blackburn drove into Billinghams half. The referee had enough of Billinghams infringements and penalised the green and white. Blackburn kicked the goal to make it 10-6 going into half time.

The second half kicked off and Blackburn were quickly dominating proceedings once again. They kept the ball tight and found gaps on weak Billingham shoulders which led to 14 unanswered points from the men in blue. 2 tries and 2 cons.

Blackburn had a clear plan and were making headway with their ball carriers. Things needed to change.

3 changes by Billingham saw Husband go to 9, Roxby to 15 Kirkbride into second row and Clark to prop (replaced S Wilson, Spoors and Whinn).

Immediately it was Kirkbride that got Billingham on the front foot with 3 monstrous carries. Clark was making yards and Husband offered something different at 9.

Burns, Foulds offered themselves more, Jackson was picking up the scraps. Myers was challenging their three quarters.

With the raucous Billingham crowd getting behind the boys you could see the lads lift their game. Powerful Luke Wilson ploughed through a big Blackburn pack brushing off tackles to score in the corner. Missed conversion. 15-20. Game on!!

Peter Evans started attacking the Blackburn team picking runners to hit gaps. Offload started to hit hands, Ross and Hopley were finding gaps. The ball quickly found substitute Jobe Roxby on the 15 metre, a check of his run, a side step and a grubber through had the large Billingham crowd holding their breath.
It was a foot race between Roxby and 2 Blackburn defenders but it was the fleet footed Roxby that won the race to catch and score to draw the sides level.
It was left to captain Peter to kick what was the winning kick from 5 metres in. The wind dropped. For what felt like an eternity Peter kicked the ball with precision to win the game 22-20.

Credit has to be given to Blackburn. It is easy to see why they are in this league. Big, powerful and athletic. We wish them a safe journey home.

We finish the year and decade with the last home win. Next week continues to be another challenge.

We continue to build.

#OSIOS

Bit late, sorry, but here is the updated league table.