Newark suffer 38-12 defeat on the road to Leek in the Midlands Division Regional Two North League.
NEWARK visited league contenders Leek and suffered a tough defeat of 38-12 against the second placed team in the Midlands Division Regional Two North League.
The home ground provided a surprisingly good pitch considering the weather and strong vocal support was evident for the home side.
The match started evenly with Newark having an opportunity to open the scoring after three minutes but, they were unable to land the penalty as the attempt sailed wide.
The early stages of the game saw the ball travel from end to end but, after some good attacking Newark play, Leek opened the scoring with a penalty of their own after 12 minutes.
Not long after Newark won a line out near the Leek line from which fly-half, Potene Rolls-Paewai, dummied his way through for a try under the posts, converted by Alex Scott.
Leek then exerted real pressure on the Newark defence through a succession of strong drives near the line.
This eventually resulted in a converted try after 25 minutes, making the score in favour of Leek 10-7.
Leek continued to apply pressure mostly through their forwards, and this resulted in another converted try ten minutes later.
This made the score 17-7, with Newark being given a yellow card for persistent offsides.
Although Newark continued to attack and looked dangerous at times, Leek scored their third converted try minutes from half-time.
Newark responded immediately, getting in just before the break.
The teams went into the break 24-12.
After the break, Newark seemed certain to score a decisive try but were thwarted due to a forward pass.
Leek’s back three defenders were a constant handful, always threatening to break through the Newark line.
Following another Newark yellow card, the second-half deadlock was eventually broken when Leek scored their 4th try after 65 minutes.
At one point Newark were reduced to 13 men thanks to yellow cards.
Leek scored their fifth converted try on the stroke of full time to make it 38-12.
Newark faces Leicester Forest at home on Saturday (2.15pm).
