Gateshead Thunder 12, York City Knights 44

The Geordie, who became an honorary Yorkshireman when representing the county in the old ‘Origin’ clashes, is quickly becoming an honorary Yorkie too due to his work with his new club, who now have a record under Thorman of played five won four after yesterday’s Challenge Cup third round success at Gateshead.

His memory might be questionable as he’d told The Press his previous visit to the Thunderdome had also been in the Cup, whereas Gateshead’s stats-man reckons it was in the old one-division Northern Ford Premiership, when Thorman’s Huddersfield side strode to the title and into Super League.

But his quality certainly isn’t in doubt.

Each time Gateshead scored yesterday, Thorman was the one to swiftly reply. He didn’t score the tries but he set them up with a quality kick or pass at the perfect moment, being the man behind three first-half tries and one, to some extent, after the interval.

Such moments of quality, however, stood out in an at times scrappy encounter in which the Knights again failed to find a consistent 80-minute performance.

When they clicked, they scored, hence the eight tries, the bulk of which came in a good first half, but the final 44-12 scoreline probably flattered against a side who have endured some big losses this year but are not as poor as their Northern Rail Cup results suggest.

It was Thorman’s half-back partner who had got York on the scoreboard, with the first moment of quality.

A 40-20, a dropout and two penalties had given Gateshead five consecutive sets – but Ryan Clarke’s pass ten yards from the try-line was picked off by Casey Bromilow and he streaked to the other end.

Interception efforts had been a feature of Jonathan Schofield’s game recently but Bromilow was back in the side in young Schofield’s stead at scrum-half and proceeded to stake a claim for a regular role.

Alex Benson was also rotated out with prop Jon Fallon making his competitive debut, while Steve Lewis was back on the wing in place of former Gateshead flier Dan Wilson. Both did okay.

One other change to the side that beat London Skolars in Championship One was a start for hooker Paul Stamp, with Joe McLocklan dropped to the bench. Stamp had an excellent first 40 at dummy-half, with the duo alternating hooking and loose-forward roles with each other and Richard Blakeway as the game progressed.

An excellent kick and chase by Stamp led to a dropout as home full-back Jason Elliott was pushed back in goal, and, from that, Bromilow’s clever low pass saw centre Lee Waterman stroll home on an overlap.

Waterman’s red-hot scoring form continued with another 20 points from two tries and six conversions, including a cracker from the touchline.

Gateshead replied through left-winger Robin Peers after good work by Kevin Neighbour. That pair, along with one-time Knights prop Tabua Cakacaka, have been at Thunder for years and are key men in another new era for the rebuilding North Easterners.

How they would love to have home-boy Thorman, though.

They fell further behind when his dink over the defence was collected on the run by Danny Ratcliffe and he found Bromilow up in support to score his second.

Thunder again hit back, this time down the right as debutant winger Jimmy Atkinson sidestepped Wayne Reittie all too easily.

But again Thorman came into his own.

A couple of sidesteps and a neat pass put McLocklan over, the sub scoring with his first touch.

Then a perfect chip to the corner had Reittie making amends for his poor defence with a try and a 30-8 half-time lead.

A scrappy opening to the second half, in which York were pinned back by penalties, ended with a superb home try by Neighbour.

York also had Mark Applegarth sin-binned, the unfortunate victim of his team’s persistent infringing.

However, Thorman returned to the fore in forcing a dropout with a kick after good play by Chris Clough and Bromilow, and then with three consecutive tackles, the last of which saw Fallon force a fumble.

From the scrum, Waterman scored another of his solo tries, with a superb arced run and hand-off down the left.

Reittie’s defence was markedly improved when Michael Brown was denied in the corner as York survived the man disadvantage.

The game remained scrappy but another moment of magic extended the lead, Bromilow’s pass out of the tackle seeing Danny Hill score – and injure an elbow in the process.

Then arguably the best move of the game was left to the penultimate minute, Blakeway the man to finish it.

Match facts

Gateshead Thunder 12, York City Knights 44

Gateshead: Elliott, Atkinson, Neighbour, Brown, Peers, Duffy, Clarke, Parker, Bate, Cakacaka, Cash, Humphries, Aderiye. Subs (all used): Young, Barron, Welton, Garside.

Tries: Peers 15; Atkinson 28; Neighbour 49.

Conversions: None.

Penalties: None.

Drop goals: None.

Sin-binned: None.

Sent off: None.

Knights: Ratcliffe 7, Reittie 6, Mitchell 6, Waterman 8, Lewis 6, Thorman 8, Bromilow 7, Applegarth 7, Stamp 8, Fallon 7, Ross 8, Hill 7, Blakeway 7.

Subs (all used): McLocklan 7, Waller 6, Clough 6, Freer 6.

Tries: Bromilow 6, 21; Waterman 12, 58; McLocklan 33; Reittie 36; Hill 69; Blakeway 79.

Conversions: Waterman 6, 21, 12, 33, 36, 79.

Penalties: None.

Drop goals: None.

Sin-binned: Applegarth 52.

Sent off: None.

Man of the match: Chris Thorman – he wasn’t always in the game but he played an influential part at key moments.

Referee: Craig Halloran (Dewsbury) – didn’t do his best to let the game flow.

Penalty count: 11-8.

Weather watch: very pleasant, almost spring-like.

Half-time: 8-30.

Attendance: 336.

Moment of the match: the Knights scored the best try of the game at the end, Richard Blakeway finishing an excellent move through a tired Gateshead defence.

Gaffe of the match: Wayne Reittie’s awful attempt to tackle opposite winger Jimmy Atkinson, whose simple step saw him score by the flag.

Match Rating: an okay first half was followed by a scrappy second punctuated throughout by moments of quality, mostly by York, that ultimately were the difference between the sides.