DURHAM CITY 22 STOCKTON 8

For the first 25 minutes, Stockton held the upper hand in the forward exchanges and stand-off Stephen Jones dictated play with some fine kicking. But good City defence kept them ay bay, the visitors’ only reward coming from a 17th minute penalty by centre Jonny Horner.

But slowly City started to come into it, finally getting some continuity into their game that quickly paid dividends. A penalty kick to the corner, driven lineout and then a scrum 12 metres out had the visitors under pressure for the first time after half an hour and, when City attacked from the scrum, centre Chris Metcalfe forced the opening for full-back Phil Stewart to score at the posts for a 7 – 5 lead.

From there they consolidated, a try 5 minutes later by prop Kenny Reader following a driven lineout from 7 metres out and conversion by scrum-half Paul Armstrong giving them a 12 – 3 interval advantage.

From that point, it never seemed likely that Stockton could recover their early control, the feistiness continued and, with City now firmly in control, two more tries were added to secure the bonus point. The first came when replacement flanker Howard Johnson took a crash-ball following a catch and driven lineout and lock Kevin Showler got the touchdown after 56 minutes and then quarter of an hour later, No.8 Peter Dent scored from a 5 metre scrum as the visitors were driven back.

Now leading 22 – 2, City were home and dry but Stockton’s spirit showed through to the end, hooker Mark Conway scoring in the left corner with 3 minutes remaining.

With 6 matches remaining, City now have a 5 point lead at the top of the table, but with no game on Saturday and several sides with games in hand, it promises to be a very tight end to the season.

CITY: Phil Stewart; Tom Elliott, Brad Pears, Chris Metcalfe, Tim Mackay; Arnie Stevenson, Paul Armstrong ( c ) : Kenny Reader, Mark Davison, Benny Parkinson, Kevin Showler, Paddy Dias, Craig Dominick, Tom Jones, Peter Dent.

Replacements: Josh Cotton, Andy Kirkup, Howard Johnson.