At the end of the day Ashby stood two points clear on top of this league while in stark contrast the 2s are now anchored at the bottom, still seeking their first win.

But for long periods of this game, Newark's performance made a mockery of that disparity. The scores were even at the break and for a brief period in the second half - helped by a yellow and red card for Ashby - the home side actually held the lead.

It's the hope that kills you, as they say.

There's no hiding from the fact that a 30 point deficit is not a pretty scoreline but it doesn't tell the full story. For the second week in succession we ran out of steam in the last 15 minutes and Ashby were able to spin the ball , evade tackles and cross for a hatful of late tries.

Which was all the more disappointing because Newark had battled hard for much of the game, generally made most of their tackles and earned a try bonus point through some hard graft and determination.

Skipper Ben Wells ended with two well deserved tries and there was yet another for gnarled veteran Tommo Tomlinson.

The game began disastrously for Newark. Ashby's left winger fielded a kick in his own half, ran strongly through a couple of tackles and crossed under the posts to open the scoring within a minute of the kick off.

But Newark fought back strongly with some brave tackling - hits from centre Robbie Hunter-Shaw and winger Johnny Marshall being stand out moments. But then we gave away four penalties in a row. The last ended with a kick to the corner and Ashby added a second try from the resulting maul.

Newark's scrum was put under a lot of pressure in the early stages and Ashby were awarded several penalties as the Newark eight were forced to back pedal. It cost the 2s a lot of hard won ground but a re-shuffle of personnel effectively solved the issue and from then on they held their own and were able to provide a more stable platform.

Nathan King proved a handful in the early stages, playing the Ashby forwards at their own game. There was also an impressive 2nd XV debut for 17 -year -old colt Nate Churchill who never took a backward step and carried hard repeatedly into the heart of the visitors' defence. He relished the challenge,

Scrum half Harley Matts eased the pressure with a nicely-judged clearance kick and moments later another perfectly weighted grubber kick from fly half Rhys Overland created a try for centre Calum Holmes who won the race to the touch down. Overland converted.

Newark then drew level when a rolling maul and a couple of individual charges ended with that try for Tomlinson.

A straightforward ship along the backline created another converted try for Ashby before Holmes broke through the middle - bursting through several tackles. The ball was worked wide but the scrambling Ashby defence were able to snuff out the threat right in the corner and just yards from their line.

Ashby then received their first yellow for repeated infringements and a quickly taken penalty eventually ended in Wells' first try and Overland's conversion tied the half time score at 19-19.

The skipper's second short-range try gave Newark the lead and an Ashby player received a red card for hitting the prop in the act of scoring. The visitors also had a man sent to the sin bin for a seatbelt tackle.

However, the act of going down to 13 men actually seemed to galvanise the league leaders rather than the home side and they came back to tie the scores when their centre burst through the middle.

From a score of 24 -24, things rapidly went south as Ashby went through the gears and began to find gaps. They ran in five unanswered tries in the last quarter of the game. Newark's lineout, for the second week in a row, worked perfectly right to the end and there was a moment of hope as replacement winger Dylan Polley evaded several tacklers in a mazy run before being downed by the last man.

It was a gutsy and dogged performance for around 60 minutes from a much changed Newark side. We just need to keep that intensity going for the full 80. If we do, the elusive first win can't be far away.

Tries: Ben Wells (2) Tommo Tomlinson , Calum Holmes.
Conversions Rhys Overland (2)