Acklam played into the breeze in the first half. They tried to launch an early attack from inside their half but knocked on in midfield. From the resulting scrum Stockton went blind then open and their centre Jonny Hormer scored under the posts. A simple conversion gave the visitors an early 7 nil lead.
Stockton were well on top in the early stages and soon increased their lead. After Acklam were penalised at the scrum Stockton kicked to touch then ran the ball out wide for winger Stephen Bartliffe to score in the corner, stretching the lead to 12 points.
Midway through the half Acklam managed to get into the game. A strong run by back row Paddy O'Brien set up a ruck from which the home team moved the ball right then left to create space for centre Alex Faint to force his way over, reducing the arrears to 5-12.
There followed a period where Stockton were repeatedly penalised at the breakdown, only for Acklam to kick to touch then lose the lineout. Stockton made Acklam pay when they forced a number of scrums near the home line. After an Acklam prop was sin binned Stockton scored an inevitable pushover try, well converted to stretch their lead to 5-19.
However, Acklam stuck to their running game. Similarly to the first try O'Brien again set am attack up and another flowing move enabled winger Danny Scott to score. Acklam continued to attack and good breaks by Danny Ashton and Josh Abraham kept the visitors under pressure. After repeated Stockton infringements one of their players received a yellow card. A lively first half ended with Acklam trailing 10-19.
Acklam started the second half still on the offensive. A great run by centre Marcus Sudron got Acklam deep into the visitors half. Then a lovely backs move from a scrum gave full back Jacob Swan room to slice his way through to score. The conversion brought Acklam to within 2 points at 17-19.
Stockton soon hit back though. A lovely cross kick was well taken by their winger Tom Lloyd to give Stockton their bonus point 4th try and a lead of 17-24. Then with just 10 minutes to go Stockton looked to have clinched a clear win when a long kick through wasn't dealt with near the Acklam line, enabling Hormer to pounce on the ball for his second try to make it 17-29 to the visitors
Acklam still had something left however. After Stockton lost another player to the sinbin for a high tackle Acklam put the visitors under extreme pressure. When a clearing kick failed to find touch Acklam ran back. After the ball was recycled a gap opened for Swan to sprint through and touch down under the posts.
The score was now 24-29 and still time for Acklam to look to score again. They caught the restart and tried to launch another attack. However, they were penalised at the breakdown. With time up Stockton opted to tap and kick to touch and an exciting game ended in a 24-29 victory for the visitors.
Although Acklam were narrowly beaten they played some excellant rugby and earned 2 bonus points, for scoring 4 tries and losing by 7 points or less to a very good Stockton team.