Boro punish loss of Darlington discipline

10:05am Monday 3rd March 2008

Middlesbrough 20 Darlington 13

ON A bad day for the Richardson brothers, Boro skipper David was the only one to emerge with any joy, despite having to be helped off with a leg injury ten minutes from time.

His brothers in the opposition, Lee and Sean, were both sinbinned, while Lee also suffered the rare indignity of having the captaincy taken off him by the referee.

Apart from the sibling rivalry, there was the added piquancy of both teams containing players who had swapped clubs. But the scraps reflected the game in that they never threatened to erupt into all-out attack.

The referee insisted that Joe Oselton take over the Darlington captaincy after deciding that Lee Richardson had become overheated when Sean was handed his yellow card for killing the ball early in the second half.

Frustrations were mounting because their brother had just slotted a drop goal to put Boro 12- 5 ahead after they had deservedly trailed 5-0 from the fifth to the 30th minute.

While Darlington were down to 14, Boro added a try and a penalty, and although the visitors applied enough pressure in the last 20 minutes to get back into it their second try at the death came too late.

It would have been much tighter had they had a goal-kicker.

In the absence of Evan Haigh the job was handed to fly half Charlie Catterall, who pulled two penalties wide on the cross-wind.

That he fluffed the final conversion scarcely mattered as it was the last kick of the game.

Haigh will be back for this week's home match against Cleckheaton, which Darlington must win if they are to stay afloat in the North One relegation battle.

They have improved massively since shipping 60 points at home to Boro in September, and dominated the first half hour on Saturday.

Had some of the high-risk stuff attempted by the younger backs come off they might have won; as it was it handed Boro a win which lifts them away from danger.

Attempts to off-load out of the tackle usually resulted in turnovers, while Boro's only try resulted partly from an attempted interception.

As they won the try-count 2-1, Darlington will also look at how their discipline disintegrated once the tide began to turn.

It took Boro 30 minutes to get into the visiting 22, but by halftime Lee Rust had kicked three simple penalties, then Sean Richardson's sin-binning effectively settled the game.

He was clearly one of the better performers and once he returned Darlington began to get back on top.

Catterall landed a straight penalty from just outside the 22 to give them hope, and they should have got within one score just after home fly half Paul Lee was sin-binned for not rolling away.

This resulted in a penalty under the posts with ten minutes left and Darlington opted for a scrum, from which they picked up and attempted to drive over, only to be guilty of obstruction.

Shortly afterwards they had another series of five-metre scrums and replacement prop Bill Smith got to the line, only to he held up.

When they finally did drive over the referee hastily awarded the try before running back ten metres to sort out a scrap between Lee Richardson and Gavin Fingland. Both were sin-binned, but time was up anyway.

Things had looked so much better for the Darlington captain five minutes into his return after a ten-week absence.

Full back Jimmy Atkinson almost got to the line following a half break by centre Andrew Pugh, then the forwards achieved a vital turnover as Boro tried to rumble clear. The ball was moved into the left corner and back again for Richardson to score.

While otherwise impressive, his forwards were not secure at the line-out, relying mainly on Steve Taylor while ignoring 6ft 9in Chris Oakley, presumably because he is too heavy to lift.

It was after losing a line-out on their own throw that they conceded Rust's first penalty, then Boro hooker Richard Horton burst on to a short pass to create the panic which led to the second.

Boro dominated the middle of the match and their try came after a catch-and-drive was foiled but they managed to work their way into midfield. The ball was then moved right and the failed interception allowed Rust to send Andy Micklewright over.

Simon Moore was sent on at full back at that stage and landed a good penalty from wide on the right after a kick bounced awkwardly for Darlington and they were guilty of pulling back a pursuing player.

The deficit proved too much for them to claw back, but there were enough good signs to suggest they can win three of their remaining games and hang on.