Preston Grasshoppers threw away a golden opportunity to pocket five league points when they squandered a 23-point lead in the second half to crash to a fourth successive defeat.

Skipper Sammy Russell was furious with his side. “We have only ourselves to blame,” he said.

“There is too much complacency and too many people don’t have a winning mentality.

“We are not concentrating for 80 minutes. The club wants to move forward but the players need to back that up or move on.

placeholder image — Hoppers were beaten (photo: Mike Craig)

“It’s nothing to do with the coaching staff – we just didn’t do what they wanted us to do.”

The two points for scoring four tries and losing by fewer than seven lifted Hoppers to 10th place in National League Two North and Russell said: “We are probably safe, but we need three or four more wins to be sure.”

Where they will come from is anybody’s guess after another Jekyll-and-Hyde performance.

Hoppers romped to a 13-0 lead in 16 minutes thanks to two Sam Freeman penalties and a well-crafted converted try by Jacob Browne.

But they were twice guilty of conceding tries straight from restarts, with Charlie Richards and James Telford touching down either side of another Freeman penalty.

Russell crashed over from a scrum and Alex Ward made it 30-14 at the break, cutting through cleanly from 20 metres out.

With Tynedale lock Graeme Dunn sin-binned for a late tackle, Hoppers extended their lead through Scott Richardson’s close-range try, Freeman’s conversion giving him 17 points.

But that was the hosts’ last throw of the dice as Tynedale’s use of the bench gave them much-needed impetus.

Tries came regularly in the second half, through Oliver Walker, Richards again, Jake Rogers and a penalty try, which also brought Russell a yellow card.

Cameron Grant added three conversions to his two before the break and Hoppers could find no way back, losing a line-out close to the line and being unable to capitalise on Tom Ailes’ fine break on a demoralising afternoon.