WELCOME I am pleased to welcome the players, officers and supporters of Consett back to Acklam Park this afternoon for what I'm sure will be interesting matches. It is a blast from the past to have first and second teams travelling together and should be encouraged. And let me offer Consett our heartiest congratulations on their promotion. Although not mathematically certain and therefore not officially confirmed, with clear daylight of 19 points between them and us in second spot it is inconceivable that they will not go up automatically. As they were relegated last season it is a tremendous effort to whiz straight back up – very well done indeed.

Consett are, of course, unbeaten, in itself a great achievement. A crumb of comfort for us is that our match earlier this season is the closest they've been to defeat, finishing 30-29. There may be another crumb – their previous visits to Teesside have been close, with scores of 40-45 and 10-15 at Acklam and Stockton. When we last met in DN1 three years ago we each won at home, something that would suit us down to the ground today!

LEAGUE RUGBY Our game against Horden was a real battle of strength. But first let me congratulate young Rory Cotterill on scoring our first and hugely important try; what a fantastic way to celebrate his 1st team début! By their own admission Horden, with a weakened back line, hoped to keep the deficit under 30 points. In the end they were just minutes away from beating us. Had they done so we couldn't have complained. Playing to their strengths they kept the game tight. With the upper hand in the scrums and a plentiful supply of ball they regularly marched upfield, their progress helped by not making handling errors. We were under the cosh but survived rumbling attack after rumbling attack by dint of heroic and ferocious defence. With the advantage of Storm Dennis, blowing a hooley that threatened to uproot the goal posts, they spent the majority of the first period in our half. The consensus of those around me was that we'd be happy to be only seven point adrift at the break with the gale then in our favour. The score was 7-0 at half time but to us. Deep in our own half Jack took the ball into contact; it was whipped out to Pete then on to Bren who shipped it on to Sean who scorched 60m upfield. When he was eventually brought down young Rory was on hand to take the pass and gleefully gallop under the posts. Baggy's conversion was to prove crucial. Strapping ourselves to the fence posts to prevent being blown into the town centre we settled down to watch our turn at battering the opposition line. It didn't happen. Horden continued to turn the screw, scoring twice to take a 7-10 lead. But then, with the minutes ticking away we showed what we can do when we have the ball. A concerted attack on the right led to Jack bulldozing his way over for a 12-10 victory that was earned as much as anything by our never-say-die defence. Whilst applauding Horden, who can consider themselves a little unlucky and fully deserving of their bonus point, I must, again, pay tribute to our Herculean defensive efforts.

And then last week at Medicals our unbeaten run came to an end. It took us just a little too long to get into our stride. This was to prove fatal as Medicals flew out of the blocks to score early on their way to taking a well-deserved 15-0 half time lead. It was a different story after the break. We got our mojo back and came out fighting. Andy Baggett scored a try after a great run by Lightening-Legs Sean, and then converted his own try. Soon after the hosts scored to make it 18-7 before a great turnover saw the ball passed to Sean who scorched in under the posts from 50 yards. Andy again converted to edge us closer at 18-14. Unfortunately despite our heroic efforts Medicals defended stoutly and that was the end of the scoring for the day. Well played to our hosts, and also to our back row of Shaun Kay, Jack Wade and Ali Lang who tackled their hearts out for the cause, always offering themselves to take the ball too. It was just not our day. Northern are now only three points behind us; playing Gateshead this afternoon we must assume that anything less than a victory for us today will allow Northern to leapfrog over us into second place,

The 'A' team managed to get a game last week! Not only that but they returned from Darlington with a 26-19 victory. Well done to the boyos on both counts.

JUNIOR RUGBY Our U14s entertained Darlington last Sunday although we lost a high-scoring game 31-48 the result was in the balance until the end. Darlo scored first but at half time we were leading 19-14, before going on to take a 31-26 lead before our visitors evened things up at 31-31 and then stepping up to win the match. We scored five tries, two from Yusha and one each from Naz, Matthew and man-of-the-match Ethan, playing at full back. Alex converted three, hitting the post with a fourth attempt. Well played to both teams.

CLUB NEWS Our very first Annual Dinner and Presentation Evening to be held here in the Club will take place on Friday 1 May. Numbers are strictly limited so I urge you to take a note of the date and get your name on the list now.

Many thanks to Jenna and Andy for organising our Crazy Karaoke last Saturday night, and to everyone who soothed us with their renditions of popular airs. There was a “guess the song” quiz in the corner, and Steve Todd's contribution was something else!

We are giving serious thought to our 150th anniversary in 2022. We would welcome your thoughts and suggestions on what events and activities you would like to see organised to give the season some real impact that such an important milestone deserves. Please feel free to offer your ideas to any one of your officers. We want to make this a whole-club celebration.

We always knew that the Service of Commemoration for Keith Schellenberg, who died in October, would be held in March. It is, in fact, taking place next weekend, but at the Brooklands Motor Museum in Surrey. Keith was a huge personality, a popular and influential member of the Club for many years, and it has been suggested that those of us who knew him should get together in the Club to pay our respects to his memory. Great idea, watch this space.

SPONSORS Today I am delighted to welcome father and son, Chris and Jonathon Lewin, of LV Shipping, who are not only our match sponsors but have also organised a Family Fun Day for their guests, complete with a magician, a bouncy castle and much more.

The LV Middlesbrough office is located on the Tees Offshore base, offering extensive warehousing and storage facilities combined with a dedicated quayside operation and a full range of logistics services, with a special focus on the oil & gas, renewable energy and engineering industries.

What is now the LV Shipping & Transport Group was established in 1921 in the Netherlands as a family company with a horse and carriage and is still an independent, privately owned company. The head office is still located in Vlaardingen, the Netherlands. The first office in the UK was set up in Sheerness and is now one of 11 offices strategically located along the east coast set up to undertake major oil and petrochemical forwarding contracts in the North Sea. LV is truly international. The extent of its global operations can be seen in the advert on page 24. Important though this is, I'm sure the 30 or so children in the LV party this afternoon, are much more interested in the food and the fun and games! I hope they all enjoy their afternoon with us, and we look forward to working together with LV again soon.

REFEREE'S CORNER I am delighted to welcome two referees returning to Acklam Park this afternoon, Andy Williamson is in charge of our DN1 match, having been here in October when we entertained North Shields. He has been a referee for four years, before which he played at No8 for Ripon. In his spare time Andy is a telecommunications engineer! Taking charge of our CANDY league match is Pablo Costa, who was here a fortnight ago controlling our Cup semi-final with Northern. I hope they both enjoy today's experience.