County Cup returns with a win for Billingham

Durham City V Billingham

The County Cup finally got underway following the disappointment of cancellation last year. We travelled to Durham with a large group of supporters despite a kick off time which changed several times. Durham looked a good opposition as they pressed constantly in the first ten minutes resulting in a converted try as reward for the pressure. New signing Carl Millar sealed his debut after Anth Hyndman made good ground with a well taken drive over to score after a strong run at the heart of the home defence with almost our first decent possession of the game. Right on Half time Armstrong broke clear with Turnbull on his shoulder the move went almost the full length of the field and Shepherd was on hand to finish off the move. Armstrong was injured in the move and Chris Hyndman replaced him. From the kick off Rumis won the ball and quick thinking from Wildridge released the backs again and Shepherd got his second to bring the half time whistle.
Half time Durham 7 Billingham 21On the restart Durham were awarded a scrum thirty metres out and Wallace won one against the head, Millar went blind and Peter Evans who had weaved his way through their defence on numerous occasions was on hand to advance further putting Shepherd in for his third score of the day. Big changes were made with Screen, Youdale, Robinson, Watson and Woodhouse replacing Armstrong, Hutchinson, Cranston, Raey and Finney. Maybe too many new faces were introduced at once and the rhythm went from the Billingham game as the Durham forwards were in the ascendency releasing their talented backs at our defence. Our cause was not helped by Rumis leaving the field with a suspected dislocated shoulder reducing our line out to one jumper, putting extra pressure on Robinson at the tail and throwing Hutchinson back into the fray. Just before the last quarter they had pulled back to within five points at 21 – 26. Peter Evans who had tortured the home side with his jinking runs sealed the victory with a long penalty near the end to give a final victory score of Durham 21 – Billingham 29.
Well done a great win against a very good Durham side.

Scorers Tries Millar 1, Shepherd 3
Kicks P. Evans 3 Conversions, 1 Penalty