A HAPPY NEW YEAR AND A WARM WELCOME TO EVERYONE!!
It gives me particular pleasure to welcome our old friends from Northern Football Club, and to offer them our sincere congratulations on being awarded, just last month, the Club Mirror's Innovative Club of the Year, 2019.

I hope you all had a good Christmas and got everything you wished for. And here we are at the start the New Year with the first of our return fixtures against a side with which we have a long and friendly relationship. It is a pleasure to meet up again with former Boro stalwart Walter Richie, with Mel Vecsey and the rest of our visitors.

Northern are in a rich vein of success, coming into this match on the back of six consecutive victories cementing second place in the table. Our visitors began the season with a thumping 57-0 win over Novos before just squeezing out a 19-17 victory against us! They then experienced a little wobble; their next five games included defeats at Stockton and Consett, and only a share of the spoils against Medicals. But a decisive win over Acklam (one of five 50-plus scorelines they've chalked up, two of which were over 70 points) got them back on track to kick-start their current run of success. I should just point out that Northern's two defeats were on their travels,,,oh, and the closest of these recent triumphs was the 32-26 win against Gateshead, third bottom and our most recent victims!

We last met three seasons ago, when we lost 56-18 at MaCracken Park before gaining revenge in the return match with a 36-11 victory. But enough of the past – let us all look forward to a thrilling match this afternoon and thoroughly enjoy the occasion.

CHRISTMAS CRACKERS! It seems like ages since we gathered here to spur on our 1st team – well it was a whole month ago! It was a truly splendid afternoon which provided so many highlights in defiance of the dark and dank weather. As it was our last home match before Christmas it began with the great and good meeting for an aperitif or two before we squeezed into the Function Room for one of Linda and Ian's fantastically fulsome Christmas lunches. A huge 'thank you' to them, their helpful Christmas elves, to Glenis and Mike Wright for organising the event – and to Glenis for hosting a Ladies table – and to all of you who attended. It was a pleasure to see so many familiar faces, some of whom made a special effort to be with us.

Having enjoyed a fantastic feast, with wonderful wine and good company we withdrew in the hope of watching some cracking rugby. Our opponents were Barnard Castle and we certainly saw some wonderful tries – 15 in all in a 95-0 victory that was as one-sided as the score suggests. (For you data-mongers out there it is not our highest score; we posted 96 points to nil against Ryton just three seasons ago.) Despite his best efforts to avoid 'the jug' Captain Heave-Homan notched up four of the tries, Sean got three with Jack Mac, Myles and Chris Palmer a brace each whilst Lyno the Rhino and Auld Lang Syne chipped in with one apiece.
For me other highlights included the fact that we maintained our tempo for the whole match, scoring more points after the break, that the opposition never gave up nor got niggly, and that the referee, Graham Bentley, a newcomer to Acklam Park, kept the game flowing.

We followed this with two away games, at Rovers and then Gateshead. Both matches followed a similar pattern – a closely fought first half before we pulled away to win. At Rovers we were 21-17 behind at the break, despite taking an early lead with tries from Sean Moloney and Toddy, both converted by Toddy, who then added a penalty to complete our scoring in the half. However the second period belonged to us as we outscored our hosts 7-31. Sean completed his hat trick and Matty Helm, Jamie and Toby all weighed in with tries, three of which were converted by Toddy. When we finally got to Gateshead (to play the only game that Saturday, despite three matches being rearranged for the day) we had to respond to conceding an early seven points. This we did with tries from Auld Lang Syne, Heave-Homan (both converted by Toddy) and Sean by half time. However we were then rocked back with Gateshead drawing level at 19-all. Toddy then added a brace of penalties to steady the ship, before Sean and Bren scored in the final ten minutes; again Toddy's conversions were spot on and we ran out the winners by 19 points to 39...a fitting start to our Christmas celebrations.

As a result of those three victories we stand in third place in the table, five points behind today's visitors, with the second highest number of points scored (top scorers are Northern!) and the third lowest number of points conceded (Consett and Westoe are meaner than us!). All of which means that we have the best Points Difference in the league – and we have the most bonus points, 13 from our 13 games,

Commiserations to our Wasps, who travelled to high-flying Alnwick and Billingham in the lead up to the holidays. The were second best in both matches, although they gave a good account of themselves in Northumberland (see Jonno's report on p4) but at Billingham, with our first team at Gateshead and no game for Billingham 1sts, the score was just a little more one-sided!

AROUND LOCAL CLUBS I see that West Hartlepool are second bottom in N1E, although they certainly won't drop into bottom spot – Huddersfield YMCA are on -29 points, having been deducted 33 points because their parent company, Huddersfield YMCA, is in liquidation, being unable to repay a debt of £166,000. Meanwhile Billingham are unbeaten at the top of North Premier, DMP are fifth in National 1, Guisborough are third and Whitby mid table in DN2, whilst in DN3 Redcar are top and Yarm mid table.

CLUB NEWS At the beginning of the New Year there is exciting news that the stork will shortly be delivering some new bouncing babies into our midst. Ross McNeill and Heather are looking forward to welcoming a brother for Heidi, and Matty Helm is still in that state of dazed shock and awe he experienced when Lucy told him he is going to be a daddy. Many congratulations and our best wishes to both families.

As we draw breath after a whirlwind of December crammed-packed with seasonal festivities I must say a huge THANK YOU to those members who made it all happen; to Ken for the Christmas Quiz, Jenna and Moira for a wonderful Children's Christmas Party, to Keith for organising the Members Grand Christmas Draw, to all of you who entered the Pie Baking Competition, including MC Jonesy and judges Chris and Wes (and congratulations to Little Dicco, the winner, for whom the foot-rail was installed around the bar so he could reach the bar), to Santa John Westy for conducting the Christmas sing-a-long (and to Tilly, Colin and Moira for ensuring there were abundant song sheets), to the dozens of Santas who made the Lizard Run such an amazing sight snaking their way down Linthorpe Road, and to Ian and Linda for providing another sumptuous free buffet for our New Year's Eve Party.

And NOW, to keep the party season rolling along and to brighten up the New Year, we are holding a Burns Supper on Friday 24 January! A piper will lead off the proceedings before we serve a traditional three-course meal, with wine and a wee dram, followed by suitable entertainment. An absolutely fantastic evening is guaranteed, all for the sum of £20 a head. Numbers are restricted so I urge you to grab your ticket from Phil Tilson or Colin McNeill.

REFEREE'S CORNER As we usher in the New Year I am delighted to welcome a newcomer to Acklam Park, George Ounsley, a young man from Goole who played scrum half for his home team before taking up the whistle four years ago. He is a student at Newcastle University but is still affiliated to the East Yorkshire Society. I hope when he leaves us today he has fond memories of a memorable first visit.