Friday, November 13, 2009 1:42:32 PM
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 4:19:55 PM
1st VX
HORDEN remain in third place in Durham Northumberland Division One despite blowing the chance to put some daylight between themselves and their nearest rivals.
Only points difference now separates Horden and Sunderland, who took their opportunities at Ashbrooke.
It was a disappointing day for Horden coaches Glen Bowman and Wayne McDowell, who looked on as their side's five-match unbeaten run came to an end on Saturday.
Several times the visitors played themselves into excellent attacking positions but each time they failed to secure key line-out ball and the opportunity was lost.
"We're still third, albeit on points difference, but to lose a game we felt we should have won is a bit of a kick in the teeth," admitted Bowman.
"You couldn't fault the lads for their effort, that wasn't a problem, but the execution let us down.
"We set up positions and created chances but we didn't take them."
The wet and windy conditions dictated that this third against fourth clash was never going to be a classic.
Early play was quite even but Horden took the lead when they made it into the home 22 midway through the half and Craig Jones landed a penalty.
The colliery side returned to the offensive only to turn over possession to their hosts. And they were made to suffer when their defence allowed a kick ahead to bounce instead of taking it on the full and Sunderland scrum-half David Bains hacked through to touch down for a converted try.
They came close to conceding another shortly afterwards when they gave the ball away but Andrew Turner made a superb try-saving tackle close to his own line on Tom Townend.
Horden had a gilt-edged chance to cut the gap to a point just before the hour, but Jones was off-target with what would normally have been a straight-forward penalty for him.
At the other end, Horden defended well to keep out a Sunderland attack up the left wing but they gave the home team a helping hand for their second score of the game.
Horden conceded a penalty on their own 10-metre line but then threw the ball away and the award was marched 10 metres further forward to give Sunderland's marksman Sean Bellon a simpler kick which he duly landed to make it 10-3.
The Welfare Park outfit fought back and at the death they secured line-out ball for the forwards to drive into the heart of the 22. After keeping the ball for some five or six phases they looked in a prime position to score only to be pulled up for accidental offside.
It proved the final play of the game.
Friday, October 23, 2009 11:44:03 AM
| 1st XV |
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| Andy White Returns from Injury |
Third plays fourth this weekend in Durham and Northumberland One, as Horden travel to Ashbrooke to take on Sunderland.
Horden travel up the A19 in good form, having won their last 5 games and 6 out of the 7 so far this season.
Horden welcome back centre Andy White and back-row Steven Heckles to the squad for this match, as they replace Scott Holloway and Richie Walsh respectively.
Andy White returns from a hamstring injury which he picked up in the 24-16 home win over Consett, and Heckles comes back into the squad after an impressive spell in the 2nd XV.
Sunderland will host Horden in their own little run good form, after notching up two impressive scorelines in the past two weeks. Last week they visited Northumberland to take on a very decent Wallsend side, and took the two points back to Wearside with them after an impressive 46-17 scoreline. The previous week they hosted high-flying Northern and although they didn't win the game, the game finished with a very respectable scoreline of 5-23.
All the aforementioned detail can only culminate in a fascinating and exciting match up.