ANOTHER game that slipped away! This time it was not lack of effort, pride or their own determination that defeated the long distance travellers but good old Geordie guts in front of their own people gearing up for a mammoth bonfire night party. It was a cracking game of rugby played in an excellent spirit; the Geordies took their few chances and the Cornish All Blacks just let their's slip, writes Tony Randel.

After playing all the rugby in the first half Launceston should have been 15 or 20 points up at half time but lady luck was not on their side.

It took half an hour for the scoreboard to be put to use. In that time exhilarating runs by Gary Kingdom, Bryn Jenkins and Mal Roberts had all been stopped just short of the line; two real catch and drive chances had been prevented by dogged Blaydon defence and Tom Bedford's touch-down was held up when over the line in the corner. Apart from the first four or five minutes Blaydon had seen nothing of the ball! Blaydon's long range penalty by ex-Wharfedale fly half Andy Baggett on the half hour was only their second scoring chance!

Immediately Launceston tried to hit back as wingers Gary Kingdom and Tom Bedford combined down the left wing but Tom was bundled into touch three metres short! A clever Steve Perry cross kick to the left wing was just too strong for Gary Kingdom to gather in the dead ball area; another chance gone. Then another when Launceston stole a Blaydon line-out virtually on their own line only to be penalised for holding on. And so it went on. Eventually, just into first half stoppage time Adam Staniforth levelled the scores with a well struck penalty.

If the first half was a case of 'what might have been' what would the second half bring?

First advantage to the Cornish All Blacks as Staniforth landed a second penalty for not rolling six minutes after the restart. Then another scoring chance went begging when Jon Fabian had a great run down the left wing, chipped over the defence but just failed to gather before the ball went dead.

Surely this string of bad luck could not go on any longer; but things got worse for the visitors! Blaydon centres Shaw and Mercer combined well to draw in the Launceston defence before passing wide for strong USA winger Brendon Daniel to score wide on the left. The difficult Baggett conversion put the home team into the lead 10-6. Baggett had a chance to further widen the gap but his penalty, for handling in the ruck, sailed wide. Then disaster struck again for Launceston in 66th minute. Daniel seized on a loose ball and with no support broke through some rather half-hearted tackles for his second try, although the conversion went wide 15-6 was looking a healthy lead for Blaydon; the home crowd were ecstatic!

That was the wake-up call Launceston had been waiting for, but was it too late! It certainly looked like it when Blaydon went further ahead in 70th minute from a Baggett penalty. Then Launceston took real control as they camped in the Blaydon 22.

With three minutes of time remaining Tim Collier was driven over for a try, to take the visitors to within seven points of the hosts! Straight from the kick-off Launceston were back on the attack with Tom Bedford coming close to scoring but quickly re-cycling the ball gave replacement Jamie Semmens the chance to score in the corner. When the conversion went just wide the referee blew for time and the hosts took the spoils 18-16.

What might have been did not happen and I suspect all were glad of the short flight home rather than a 430 mile bus trip! Next Saturday it is old friends Wharfedale at Polson and time to end this losing streak! Be there and turn Polson Bridge into a daunting place to visit once more!

Blaydon: Adam Dehaty, Ben Mercer, Martin Shaw, Patrick Dias, Brendan Daniel, Andy Baggett, Gavin Charlton, Rob Kalbraier, Matthew Hall, James Isaacson, David Guthrie (capt), Sam Tomes, Selwyn St Bernard, Will Welch and James Smithson; replacements A. Harrison, Stephen Trench, James Burns, Chris Clark, and Charlie Rayner

Cornish All Blacks: Jon Fabian (Jamie Semmens 66), Tom Bedford, Mal Roberts (Marc Dibble 54), Steve Perry, Gary Kingdom, Adam Staniforth, Lewis Webb, Keith Brooking (capt) (Jason Bolt 46-62), Darren Semmens, Hamish Mitchell, Tim Collier, Bryn Jenkins (Scott Hobson 54), Josh Lord, Tony Roques, and Glen Remnant (Sam Hocking 66)

Scorers — Blaydon: tries, Damiel (2); con, Baggett; pens, Baggett (2). Cornish All Blacks: tries, Collier, J Semmens; pens, Staniforth (2)

Referee; Mr Paul Knowles (RFU).