Blaydon 22, Preston Grasshoppers 22: Hoppers left dissatisfied by stalemate on the road

Both teams have had a difficult first half of the season, and a victory would have been significant in the battle to avoid relegation. Hoppers got off to a perfect start with Will Clapham crossing the Blaydon try-line within the first five minutes after he collected Will Hunt's clever kick through the host's defence to score, and Ben Pearson slotted the conversion.

But the home side quickly hit back when the visitors conceded a penalty which Blaydon kicked into touch in the Hoppers' 22, and Daniel Gray scored from the resulting rolling maul, with John Clarkson converting to even the score after 11 minutes. Preston added to their early try in the 19th minute after Tyler Spence collected a misjudged Blaydon clearing kick and beat a few defenders before passing to Chris Taylor, who showed impressive strength to score in the left corner, but Pearson could not convert.

Hoppers second-row Ewan Naylor was sin-binned by referee Michael Harris in the 25th minute, and Blaydon capitalised with Darren Barry powering over from close range, with Clarkson adding the extra two points.

The visitors were on the scoresheet again before half-time after Ben Dorrington charged into Blaydon territory giving Harry Moulding a platform to break the lines and find Jacob Browne, who raced under the posts to hand Pearson an easy kick.

Blaydon got the final points of the opening 40 minutes, with Clarkson kicking a penalty to reduce the gap to two at the break.

Pearson had the chance to extend Hoppers' lead with a penalty in the 42nd minute but missed in the worsening weather condition. However, he did get three points seven minutes later from the kicking tee.

The hosts had the final say in the match, with Charles Smith scoring in the 74th minute from a rolling maul to draw level on the scoreboard, but Clarkson could not convert to steal the points.

Hoppers coach Dan Orwin was left dissatisfied by his team's failure to win the game. He said: "Definitely frustrated. Picking up points is nice, but we should have won that. We should have been able to close that game out for me."

The stalemate sees Hoppers sitting 11th in the standings, with Rotherham Titans visiting Lightfoot Green next weekend.