Last updated 19:43, Thursday, 23 October 2008

A MAGNIFICENT performance by Netherhall ended in despair as they crashed out of the EDF Energy Senior Vase Cup after a 3-3 draw with Sunderland.

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The tie had gone into extra-time but with no further score it was Sunderland who went through on the away team rule.

It looked ominous for the Cumbrians when the much bigger visitors took control in the first 20 minutes and Netherhall conceded penalties, one of which was put over by Sam Vaughan.

Slowly but surely the home defence started to stop the visitors’ forwards with big tackles all over, particularly from the back row of Andrew Renney, Jonathan Burnyeat and Liam Thomason.

Just before half-time the Netherhall backs broke down the left and Chris Gibson fed Simon Irving on the wing who beat two defenders and raced for the line only to be stopped just short by a good tackle from the full-back.

In the second half Sunderland were unsure of how to play the game despite having the majority of the possession. They were being continually knocked back by the tenacious home team’s tackling.

On 60 minutes the visitors’ frustration eventually made them concede a penalty and Paul Atkinson struck an excellent kick from wide on the right to make it 3-3.

Liam Vickers troubled the visitors with his pace and excellent kicking by Atkinson kept pushing Sunderland back.

The nearest Netherhall came to winning the game came after the home pack won some ball and Ryan Robertson made ground, crashing through tackles before feeding the ever-present Steven Knowles who was grounded by the cover defence.

In extra time, with a minute to go Netherhall broke. Jamie Nicholson fed Atkinson who accelerated through the Sunderland backs and raced to towards the halfway line.

He tried to put a long pass to Vickers but unfortunately it went to ground and immediately the referee blew for time to send Sunderland through.

Creighton were outclassed by a Percy Park outfit that boasts an unbeaten record in Durham and Northumberland One. They were eventually beaten at home 66-3 with Dan Greenslade slotting a penalty for Creighton.

Wigton Wanderers got through by default when Ashington cried off and Kirkby Lonsdale were 32-10 winners at Ashton-under-Lyne.

Keswick had bad luck, building up a 15-0 lead at home to Gosforth but then being caught and eventually overhauled to go out 23-20.

The Cumbrians made a blistering start with three very good tries for Jamie McKenzie, Michael Branthwaite and Andy Wallace.

Before half-time Gosforth had recovered from their slow start and were getting themselves sorted out, cutting the deficit to 15-12 with two tries and a conversion.

One of the tries came when Keswick were down to 14 men with David Ray in the sin-bin for a technical offence.

In the second half Gosforth continued to improve and a rather soft try gave them the lead for the first time, which was increased with a penalty.

Keswick weren’t done, however, and battled back into the contest, drawing level with another excellent try.

John Hine and Brian Story sparked a long-distance move which involved Branthwaite, McKenzie, Ray and Lance Lake. On the end it was McKenzie who finished off with the try. Mark Ireland took over the kicking from Hine and struck the post with the conversion.

The tie was settled 15 minutes from the end when Gosforth put over a penalty. Like Keswick, both Workington and St Benedict’s were narrowly beaten to go out of the competition though Wigton had a fine 32-5 win over Wallsend.

Saints were at Oldham, the team that just held on to North Lancs Cumbria League status last season while the West Cumbrians were relegated. It finished 15-13 to Oldham.

Workington were in the North East, beaten 24-20 at Northern after making their traditional slow start.

They conceded an early try and were eventually set on their way by a Mike Hawley penalty.

Before half-time they had the boost of a try, too, as Mark Hunton went 75 yards to grab the touchdown and send the Zebras in at the break 8-5 to the good.

That was improved soon after the restart when Hawley went on a looping run outside the home defence to score a fine individual try.

Northern, though, looked good in the backs and they closed up to within a point with a converted try.

The key moment came 10 minutes from time when Ben Lanighan went charging through. He might have got over himself but unselfishly, five metres from the line, he unloaded to Neil Hastings outside him – and the referee ruled the pass forward.

Northern profited from that as they came back to score two tries, one of them converted, again through using the pace in their backs.

But Zebras weren’t finished and late on they reduced the arrears with an Andrew Bow try which Hawley converted.

The other Cumbrian side in the competition, Upper Eden, went down 36-17 at Stockton.

l In the EDF Intermediate Cup Penrith beat Bellingham 23-18 and Carlisle lost 13-8 at Rochdale.