Darlington took the long journey to Alnwick to face a strong Alnwick side with an enviable home record. Playing with the sun at their backs, Darlington opened brightly and despite conceding an early penalty to James bird, they soon managed to secure quick ball which allowed Henry Carver to hit the line hard and flat and then show good footwork to score from around twenty metres. This galvanised Alnwick who used their well organised forwards to suck players in which provided space for their useful backs. Despite defending reasonably well Darlington conceded a try and several further penalties to go in at half time 19-5 down. Darlington came out full of intent and within 5 mins had pulled a try back via a beautifully crafted rolling maul. Darlingtons forwards managed four tries all equally pretty rolling maul efforts with Joe Hargreaves the pilot on three of these, securing his hatrick and big Chris Oakley getting the other. Ten stone hero Mark Baldwin deserves credit for the formation of one maul. Alnwick secured a losing bonus at the death after a combination of sloppy defending and Alnwicks impressive attitude, seeing their openside in the corner. Chris Oakley had perhaps his best game in a Darlington shirt. Henry Walton distinguished himself well on his first team debut making numerous tackles, Dave Inman was doing well in the fated no8 shirt until his departure due to injury which we're told thankfully isn't too serious. All in all a good team performance with the forwards scoring the tries while the backs ensured a potent Almwick backline were made to work for every gainline success. Some very big tests remain and training numbers and commitment must remain high if Darlington wish to maintain their promotion push.