THERE was no elusive first victory of the season for Gateshead Thunder, but plenty of signs of improvement as they restricted Doncaster to just 32 points in their latest defeat.

Following last weekend’s 92-6 humiliation at Keighley, which took their average points conceded to an alarming 58 per game, director of rugby Chris Hood will have been keen just to stem the tide of tries yesterday at the Keepmoat Stadium.

In the end the Knights managed six touchdowns against Co-operative Championship One’s winless basement side, on the back of a hard-fought encounter between the two sides at the International Stadium just three weeks ago.

Grant Edwards got the show off and running for the Yorkshire side with the opening try of the afternoon, with Spurr and Keswik adding further tries for a half-time home lead of 18-0.

The return of captain Jason Payne from suspension was among the contributing factors for Gateshead as they kept pace with a side which had won eight of its 13 games going into yesterday’s encounter.

But second-half scores from Hughes, and a second try apiece for both Keswik and Spurr sealed the deal for the Knights, as they became the latest side to record a double over the beleaguered Thunder.

Still, in a season of almost endless negatives, a 32-0 scoreline against one of the league’s biggest hitters registers as progress for a Gateshead side which has consistently struggled badly at this level for the past two seasons.

A fortnight without a game offers the ideal timeframe for a period of introspection at the league’s most northern outpost, before their trip to Whitehaven on Sunday July 31.

Haven inflicted a 54-10 home defeat on Gateshead when the two sides locked horns back in May, with the Cumbrians running in 10 tries against by far the league’s most profligate defence.