WELCOME This afternoon we are honoured and delighted to welcome the President of Yorkshire, Ray Kelly, all the more because Ray is not only a Middlesbrough man but he played rugby here at Acklam Park as a Colt, since when for the past ..em..few years he has been the driving force at and the cornerstone on which Acklam Rugby Club have built their success. It is a great honour for Acklam, the town and for the whole area that he holds the prestigious position of President; I only hope he enjoys his afternoon with us and that we can serve up a memorable game for his entertainment.

And to join us in that memorable game I am pleased to welcome Ryton back to Acklam Park. Last season we won both encounters; we scored a total of ten tries in the process, but that's not going to happen this term. We only just managed to win at Ryton in October. We fell behind to an early try and conversion but in a scrappy half we hit back to go in at the break 14-7, with late tries from Ben Wood, both converted by Matty. Ryton applied pressure to level the match at 14-all but Matty converted a penalty to give us a slender victory.

Our visitors got off to a winning start this season, beating Hartlepool in the Cup and then Gosforth and Hartlepool again in the league. But then the wheels came off and they haven't won since, losing their last 17 consecutive matches and picking up a five-point deduction along the way. Although conceding some big scores – 100 to Northern, 76 to Stockton and 50 to Consett, and then shipping 150 points in their last three matches – some of their other games have been close affairs and I'm sure they'll come out today with all guns blazing.

LEAGUE RUGBY Barnard Castle are well placed to fight for promotion, having lost fewer matches than anybody else in our league and with two games in hand over the top two. A fortnight ago they beat us 5-17. It's true they coped with the conditions marginally better than us, but for all that we could (perhaps even should) have won. After the glorious sun-bathed conditions of our Cup match with Hullensians we were met with thoroughly miserable murky grey damp (at times very wet) weather and a pitch ankle deep in mud – it was muddy awful, as you can see from the photo of Euan, which was taken in one of the brighter moments! Although the conditions didn't suit our fleet-footed style of play we took the lead with the outstanding try of the match, when Callum embarked on what is fast becoming his hallmark – a long range effort scything through opponents. We then should have added a second and could have scored a third before Barney found their feet. In the event they scored seven points before the break (but...but they were playing an advantage near our line when they spilled the ball forwards and then a player in front of the ball picked up and dived over!) and another two tries in the second half, both from rolling/pushover/steamroller/bulldozing specials.

We lost another match last week which we could have won, although I'm not saying we should have won, when we went down at Gateshead 27-15 in an entertaining game. Playing into a strong wind in the first half a penalty by Matty made it 3-3 at half-time before the game opened up in the second half. First Gateshead surged through to score under the posts, but we hit straight back with two tries from Sean Moloney, with Matty converting the first. But Gateshead scored a second try to make the scores level again at 15-15. They continued to press and added the third try before a last minute try gave Gateshead a four-try bonus point. We really do need to return to winning ways today...

By the way Wath upon Dearne play Selby today to decide which club will play us here at Acklam Park in the semi final of the Yorkshire Shield, a game scheduled for 18 March, three weeks time.

OTHER LEAGUES A look at the table for North 1 East is a little worrying. Guisborough and Wheatley Hills are doomed, but Durham City are third bottom and locked in a fight to avoid relegation. Three clubs will come down and take their places in either our league or Yorkshire 1. If Acklam can – sorry, Ray! – when Acklam finish above the bottom two spots in Y1 they will come back into DN1. So...if only one club is promoted from DN1 (ie Y1 wins the play-off) there will be two too many clubs in our league. Now let me say that I don't see why it is absolutely necessary for all leagues at our level to have identical numbers, but as things stand they do, and, as we and Acklam know only too well, clubs are level-transferred to achieve equal numbers. It all makes for an interesting few months.

JUNIORS When our U13s were due to host Redcar two weeks ago Acklam Park was awash, as reported above, and illustrated in the photograph of the Barnard Castle 1st team game. In the circumstances the fixture was reversed and the U13s took themselves off to Mackinlay Park for a much anticipated decider after the teams shared a draw in their last encounter earlier in the season. Unfortunately the wet weather was exchanged for bitterly cold conditions and it was as 'Cold As Ice' according to our intrepid U13s reporter Chris Buckley.

With a number of absentees the squad was only just big enough to start the game with a full line up and a replacement. The lads battled bravely. Ben Buckley gave 100per cent and showed great commitment in the pack and Jack Robinson worked hard in the backs. Despite this Boro were unable to break through their opponents' defence. The cold conditions took their toll and injuries reduced Middlesbrough to 12 men by the end of the match. It is all credit to Redcar, who coped with the conditions better and ran out winners by 25-0.

CLUB NEWS First and foremost let me wish 'the Admiral,' the manager of Acklam Park, a speedy recovery from his illness. Ian returned from a few days in France feeling really unwell. As always he had to be persuaded to seek medical attention. It turned out that he had tonsillitis and septicaemia (blood poisoning). He was kept in hospital on two drips – one for antibiotics, the other to ensure he gets some fluids. He is off the drips now but still in hospital. We send him our very best wishes; he is hugely important to and influential in our cause – and extremely popular to boot.

REFEREE'S CORNER It gives me great pleasure to welcome Jim Saunders back to Acklam Park. He has been a referee for 16 years, and was here earlier this season when we played Gateshead in October. In his playing days he played on the wing for the Army and at No 7 and hooker for the Royal Horse Artillery. Jim is from Grimsby and is self-employed, being a Director of his own flooring company. I hope we can serve up a trouble-free game for him today.

MEMBERS REUNION: Saturday 8 April, before (and after) the Westoe match!