On arrival it looked like we were in for a torrid time, our older lads who have taken a relaxed approach to Covid conditioning were greeted by a spritely young fit looking squad from from Hartlepool with one effortlessly slotting 60 m kicks between the posts in warm up. The rain and hail was belting down and one might have wondered if this was a good idea.

Just before kick off, the sky opened up and we actually played in really pleasant conditions. We were soon under the cosh though with Hartlepool very much in the ascendancy in the early exchanges. However, a mix of tough tackling and astute kicking from Nathan Waterhouse in particular gave us a few opportunities as well.

Neither side troubled the scoreboard in the opening 20 mins.

2nd quarter and Hartlepool lit up a bit scoring good tries on 30 mins and on the stroke of half time... both converted.

HT 14-0

The third Quarter saw a raft of changes from Sedgie with the majority of the bench used (Bobby only wanted 20 mins) and in the third quarter Hartlepool continued to dominate. Veteran Dougie Wardle was folded like a deckchair after just 4 mins and needed to be replaced. Hartlepool dominated this quarter scoring a further 3 decent tries but Sedgie still caused problems and the game plan was starting slowly to take effect. Unfortunately, Danny Wolfe injured his knee in a tackle and was in a bit of pain. Hopefully wont rule him out too long.

The final quarter saw Sedgie turn it up and find spaces away from the ruck and make more regular line breaks and we were rewarded with fine try for Ryan Towler. Hartlepool struck again after a kick bounced over both popey and Kyle Bishop and was gathered by the Hartlepool wing.

Sedgie had the final say with Dom Ryan charging down a clearing kick and then following it up to score out wide right on full time.

Congrats to Hartlepool who were definitely the better side on the night, they look well drilled and very structured, im sure when the leagues start you will once again challenge at the top of the league for promotion.

Sedgie while outplayed showed plenty of guts and endeavour and deserved a bit more out of the game on the scoreboard but this was a decent hit out for us and great to see the lads back on the field again after so long.

Next week a visit to old friends Stockton for another Friday night outing!