POCKLINGTON chalked up their third successive North One East success with a 23-19 comeback win at Consett.

It was hardly convincing as they scraped the result after a below-par display, but the victory nevertheless maintained the team’s 100 per cent start to term - and put points back on the board after the disappointment of a five-point deduction ahead of the match.

Consett, promoted from Durham/Northumberland One last term, were lively from the outset, offloading from side to side.

However, they were met by a wall of solid tackling and missed a chance to open the scoring when putting a penalty wide, and instead Pock took the lead with a Jonty Peters three-pointer.

The pendulum swung back to Consett and, when Pock's tackling let them down, the home backs weaved under the posts for a 7-3 lead.

Pock then took over with some strong running up the middle. They were unable to turn good approach play into points due to below-par execution or wrong options, but they got it right midway through the first half when catching and driving from a lineout and being awarded a penalty try when Consett collapsed the maul.

Pocklington were still subdued and had problems at the lineout and breakdown, and this continued after the break.

They had plenty of attacking platforms but lost lineouts or made unforced errors whenever they got into the home 22.

Instead, Consett grabbed the initiative with two tries in 10 minutes midway through the second half.

The first came from a long-range breakaway after Pock had coughed up possession, and the second from a well-worked lineout move.

Pocklington, now 19-10 behind, needed quick improvement, and young flanker Toby Stephenson sparked the revival by athletically catching the restart and charging to the shadow of the posts.

Consett infringed and Peters kicked the goal to peg the deficit back to one score.

Pock were still making hard work of it, but they finally got another lineout in the red zone and launched an unstoppable drive that brought them their second penalty try of the day, edging them one point ahead with Consett also losing a man to the sin-bin.

An angled penalty from Christian Pollock stretched the lead to 23-19, but there were still five minutes to go and Consett rediscovered their offloading game and threw everything into a late rally to save the game.

By now Pock were depleted by injury with a centre and two props on the sidelines, forcing hooker Dave Birch and back-rower Owen Jackson to switch to emergency prop and centre.

Consett had more than 20 phases as they tried to find a way through for a winning try, but Pock once more put up the defensive barrier to hold out for victory.

Pock's points deduction last week, meanwhile, seemed harsh.

The club were unable to play a rearranged North Premier game against Harrogate on Easter Saturday last season due to the annual Pock 7s and a player's wedding that weekend.

Nevertheless that date had been pencilled in as a catch-up day for postponed fixtures and league chiefs chose to apply the sanction as punishment for failure to play the game - and furthermore carry it over to this 2018-19 campaign.

Pock appealed - not least because Bridlington had postponed their rearranged game with Malton & Norton a fortnight earlier and had their points deducted straight away - but that appeal has since been rejected.

Pock, looking to bounce back to the North Premier this season, host Morley on Saturday aiming to maintain their winning record.