There was plenty of effort from the visitors and long spells of dominance, but they were unable to turn that pressure into points.

Crocs put themselves under pressure early on with a number of mistakes.

But as the half progressed, their self belief grew with good driving work by Mark and Richard Thomas taking them forward and Jack Hammond clearing his line well, though he picked up a nasty jaw injury in the process.

Good handling in the backs allowed Shane Davies to break but a poor pass brought an end to the move, yet still Crocs pressed with Richard Oliver to the fore in the loose and set pieces.

Both sides took the ball forward whenever possible and on 30 minutes came Crocs' best chance when Dan Bancroft chased through for Gateshead to concede a five metre scrum.

Good handling kept Crocs on the attack but Gateshead cleared and then stormed downfield with only an excellent last ditch tackle by Steve Shaw on the home number 8 keeping the visiting line intact.

It was still scoreless at the break but five minutes into the second half, home scrum half Foster chipped over Crocs' first line of defence.

Centre Tate picked up and charged deep into Crocs territory, where a penalty for infringing in the line allowed Foster to put the home side 3–0 up.

A good clearing kick by James Wainwright prevented them extending their lead but with Crocs squandering their chances from the little possession they did get, it was no surprise that it was Gateshead who scored next, Foster's second penalty on the hour doubling the lead.

Coach Jonathan Davies brought on Ian Holmes and Mark Jowett for Dan Bancroft and Matt Horne to try and energise the visitors and shortly afterwards Andy Day was substituted for Paul Michael, but Crocs were unable to turn late pressure into points and the home side held on to clinch victory.