Having suffered their only defeat of the season at the hands of hosts Consett, who thoroughly deserved their 15 – 8 win in early November, City made amends in emphatic style as they romped to another high-scoring victory at Amethyst Park in the Durham & Northumberland 1 League.

Five points clear of Middlesbrough at the head of the table with Consett in third place a further 11 points behind and only 6 matches remaining, it would seem, barring a dramatic loss of form, that for City, at the least, the runners-up and play-off spot for promotion back to the North 1 East League after a 3 year absence can reasonably be expected.

But City will turn their attention to their quarter- final tie in the National Intermediate Cup when they entertain Whitehaven side St. Benedicts who themselves are currently flying high in the North Lancashire & Cumbria League and a tough encounter is anticipated.( KO to be confirmed),

A fine display by the City forwards in both set and loose play laid the foundation for the victory at Consett and the backs threatened throughout. After centre Arnie Stevenson had broken through only to lose the ball over the line as he grounded it, they went ahead after 15 minutes, winger Sam Heron finishing off a break by stand-off Paul Armstrong following a ruck.

Centre Tom Hodgkiss followed it up capitalising on a fine break through the middle by winger Chris Metcalfe and, before the interval, No.8 Peter Dent forced his way over for their third try. With Armstrong converting 2 of them and Consett’s only reply being a penalty by full-back Neil Cook, they took a 19 – 3 lead into the interval.

It was quickly extended, Armstrong scoring on the left following a good Dent run, Dent himself then touching down twice more, firstly for from a driven lineout and then when the pack drove the Consett pack back at a 5 metre scrum for a pushover try. Finally, Armstrong finished it off with his second try in the left corner after they had created a big overlap and rounded off an impressive kicking display by converting all 5 second-half tries for a personal tally of 24 points.

CITY: Phil Stewart; Chris Metcalfe, Tom Hodgkiss, Arnie Stevenson, Sam Heron.
Paul Armstrong (c), Will Paxton; Fraser Kirkley, Mike Hay, Benny Parkinson,
Tom Wilkinson, Kevin Showler, Tom Baty, Jeff Roberts, Peter Dent.

Replacements : Howard Johnson, Paddy Dias, Tim Mackay.