At last the pitches are playable

BILLINGHAM 3TM V HORDEN
Unavailability and a late cry off meant reorganisation of the side with Ritchie Morrison taking on the management mantle as well as all of the other tasks. No excuses it was a bitter cold day but conditions were good with no wind and a firm pitch. Horden started as expected through the forwards and won an early penalty for holding on to take a three point lead. Scott Hutch started despite recovering from a virus and the partnership with the very experienced Phil Hall meant the front row was only going one way, forward. This power with the rucking skills of Massey, Gray and Surtees (the cute one) opened up the visiting forwards like the red Sea. Childs saw the gap and raced through like a gazelle for a try. The visitors tried to battle back winning line out after line out but 3TM put the ball through the hands leaving Naz out wide and his long gate saw him outpace the defenders to score with Elgie making the kick look easy stroking it coolly over the posts. Horden attacked again and were deep into our twenty when a huge hit by Bates forced a knock on which fell to the returning Durnion. Box put in a huge clearance kick and Naz chased through, gathering the TV bounce with one hand was out of sight to add to his total. With only five minutes left on the clock the home side pushed the visitors back into their red zone after a rare run from Keenan who saw very little of the ball. Gray ripped the ball and Watson came on like a train to hammer over for the score.
HALF TIME BILLINGHAM 3TM 24 V HORDEN 3
Richie rang the changes from the line seeing the welcome return of Ker, Coulle and Taylor to the Green and White shirt. The game flowed for the Thirds but were unable to add to the score until Kelsey raced through to be tap tackled just short but showed great determination to bounce up and dive over. Another ten minutes passed and as Horden cleared Coggy Canham was well placed out wide to receive the punt. Racing in field avoiding tackles he pulled off a scissor movement with Sudren who went wide, came back inside, saw the gap and raced through untouched to score. Horden pulled one back with a classic forward move although it looked a bit of a truck and trailer move. Billingham moved up the field winning a scrum deep into the twenty. Coulle showed all his experience holding the ball in at eight with Donaldson picking and going in with a weaving run. The final score wa a peach with Watson racing clear and Scott Thompson who switched sides due to a Horden front row injury facing him like a gun fighter at high noon. High Noon for Scott Watson hammerd the unfortunate player and went through to pass to Bates who scored, full marks for bravery though!
FULL TIME BILLINGHAM 3TM 48 V HORDEN 8
Scorers Try Childs 1, Naz 2, Watson 1, Kelsey 1, Sudron 1, Donaldson 1, Bates 1
Conversions Elgie 3, Sudron 1
Reporters comment: Twenty four points in each half and a great result and another good performance. Thanks to Richie Morrison who took over the line and all of the late call ups for making up the team. Oh yes and Scott for that tackle on Watson in the dying minutes.
Congratulations to Woody and Hutchy a beautiful daughter each this week. Can they come out and play on a Saturday now ladies?