Hoppers were again indebted to their forwards who eventually took control over a powerful Blaydon eight while the backs discovered some of the sparkle lacking in recent games.

A home win looked unlikely when, after only five minutes, powerful flanker Pat Segi brushed aside tackles to score from a scrum.

Hoppers recovered, and, had Paul Bailey been on target, could have taken the lead with three eminently kickable penalties between the ninth and 13th minute. Some end-to end play followed before Stuart Wilson and Russell Flynn combined to produce a promising move before Bailey made ground but his chip was covered.

He did eventually hit the mark in the 33rd minute with a penalty to close the gap.

Hoppers finished the half the stronger and, after more forward pressure, hooker Richie Sands squirmed over in the corner. Bailey's kick was good but Hoppers went in at the break reflecting that a 10-5 lead was a poor return for a lot of possession and effort.

Blaydon started the second half strongly and after five minutes the other half of the South Sea Island partnership, centre Iosua Segi, stormed through the defence to score at the posts and Clappison's conversion put his side back in the lead.

Hoppers' forwards now took control with a series of rolling mauls which replacement prop Winter collapsed once too often and was shown a yellow card after 57 minutes. But it was when the visitors were back to full strength that Hoppers produced the move of the game in the 69th minute. First, fly half Simon Worsley spotted a gap and sliced through the cover.

The ball was then recycled and Viney left two defenders for dead and sprinted through, his perfectly timed pass giving Bailey a clear run in for the try which he converted himself to put Hoppers back in front 17-12.

With an eye on the scoreboard, Worsley showed sound judgement in opting for the drop goal to increase the gap to eight points with just two minutes plus injury time to play. Blaydon launched a last-ditch assault in an attempt to salvage a bonus point but Hoppers held out to celebrate an important win.

They need to take up where they left off after the two-week Christmas break when they travel to the Woodlands in an attempt to pull off the double over local rivals Fylde.