LUCTONIANS' Head Coach Ryan Watkins praised the belief of his side after they scored a last ditch winning try at Tynedale.

Rob Cowley was the star man for the travelling Lucs as he crashed over two minutes into injury time to secure them a first win back in the National League 2 North with a 36-33 score-line.

"It was nice to get the league season off to a winning start," said Watkins.

"They (Tynedale) dominated the first half and were aided by the wind behind them and then in the second half the score see-sawed.

"They probably thought they had won it on several occasion.

"However, are attitude was that we weren't going to lay down and in the last minute we had to get kick-off back and then went through 10 passes to score.

"We carried on playing and moving the ball.

"Away from home and our furthest away trip this season, to get maximum points is a real statement.

"The attitude and spirit of the boys impressed me as several times we went behind but we didn't panic and carried on what we were doing.

"We had that confidence to go out and believe that we could still win it."

Luctonians were challenged with a 600-mile round trip to start the season in Northumberland.

The hosts took the lead through a Jake Rodgers kick before Will Roberts scored a converted try.

Lucs replied on the 11th minute with Louis Silver converting his own try.

Twelve minutes later Watkins' side took the lead as centre Frank Kelly charged over the whitewash.

Tynedale replied before the break and Ben Bell went over from a scrum before two more Rodgers penalties gave his side a 23-12 lead at half-time.

After the break Luctonians responded once more with full-back Rob Bengry followed over the whitewash by Crowley to take the lead.

Back came the hosts with two tries to give them a 31-30 lead.

Rodgers' fourth penalty of the afternoon looked to have secured the win.

However, Lucs had other ideas and in injury time Crowley finished off a fine team move.

This weekend Luctonians face local rivals Stourbridge at Mortimer Park (3pm).

Watkins' side are looking forward to play in front of a home crowd once again.

"It will be a tough challenge but will be nice to play at home," Watkins added.

"We have been travelling through pre-season so it will be our first game at home since the Blaydon play-off game.

"The boys are excited to get on the pitch and there are one or two guys coming back who will be giving us a selection headache for the match.

"The biggest thing for us is that we have got a big block of games now until Christmas so chances are going to come for the players."