On a record breaking hot day in October, Durham City came to Cleckheaton hoping to break their own, less welcome, record of always losing away from home this season.

The Moorend crowd, appreciating the autumn swelter in short sleeves and sunglasses, had cause for concern in the opening exchanges as Cleckheaton could not get any controlled possession and 2 successful penalty kicks from City's Adam Morton, gave the visitors an early 6 - 0 lead. To make matters worse, Paul Turner had to leave the field 10 minutes into the game with a torn hamstring, giving Danny Furness an opportunity for 70 minutes of game time. Despite the loss of their captain, the home side started to impose themselves on the game and fully clicked into gear when Ross Hayden went in for the first of his two tries, following good distribution along the back line and a deft pass from Richard Piper.

City attacked from the re-start but Cleckheaton defended manfully with Ryan Piercy, Iain Gordon and Danny Furness putting in notable tackles. Cleckheaton extended their lead just before the 20 minute mark when a kick out of their 22 by Durham was fielded close to the touch line by Steve Worsley. Under pressure from the on-rushing opposition centre, who was 10 years younger, 10 inches taller and at least 10 yards quicker, the experienced hooker delighted the crowd with a sublime side step, which left the younger man with hands on hips and head bowed. Meanwhile, Worsely went on a 20m jaunt up field and found Ed Chappelow sprinting in support to double the territorial gain before taking contact and setting up a ruck. Scrum half Oliver Depledge was on hand to feed Cleck’s pack, who drove close enough to the line for Richard Piper to slip from the back of the maul and go in for Cleck’s 2nd try. Gordon, who had narrowly missed his first conversion attempt was successful this time and put Cleck into a 12- 6 lead.

The referee called for a drinks break at that point and both sides took the opportunity to replenish their fluid levels as the sun continued to beat down. Ten minutes of play followed, where no side threatened the others’ line, before Gordon extended Cleckheaton’s lead with a penalty goal.

With less than 5 minutes to go in the half, Pete Murphy opened up the opposition defence on the halfway line and sprinted 30 metres before releasing Ross Hayden to go under the sticks for his 2nd try, Gordon adding the conversion. From the re-start Cleck pressed again allowing Matt Piper to collect the ball from the back of a tackle and pirouette his way through 3 would be defenders for Cleckheaton’s bonus point try. The conversion attempt drifted wide and at half time the scoreboard had advanced to 27-6.

Matt Piper and Pete Murphy were both carrying knocks and it was the former who got the reprieve at half time, making way for Danny Wilkinson. Despite renewed resolve from the visitors, Cleckheaton increased the margin when excellent interplay down the left flank resulted in Martin Woodhead crossing close to the sticks for a converted try. Steve Worsley was given a rest from the heat making way for Nick Holland along with a quick re-shuffle of the pack.

The conditions were starting to take their toll on the homeside and Durham found some urgency to go in for 2 unconverted tries within 4 minutes. Whilst the referee stopped play for a 2nd half drinks break, some were nervously doing a calculation of the score rate required for City to overcome their 34-16 deficit. Any such worries were dispelled however, when Richard Piper went in for his 2nd try of the afternoon on the 65 minute mark and Gordon's boot restored a 25 point lead.

Durham hit back with their 3rd try and Mark Sergeant was shown a yellow card, when the referee adjudged his constant harassment of the opposition breakdown had swung from perfectly on the line, to illegal. The sin binning restored parity of numbers as a City player had also been dismissed a few minutes earlier. With less than 3 minutes to go Durham got some tangible reward for their efforts in the sunshine, when they crossed for their 4th and bonus point try, to round off the scoring at 41-28.

Cleckheaton played excellent flowing rugby at numerous times during this game and showed they have some real class. The players will be disappointed that they let the visitors in for 4 tries, when the agreed goal at half time was to keep the opposition try-less. This weekend the team travels to Billingham, league leaders and top points scorers, giving Cleckheaton a perfect opportunity to demonstrate their continual improvement.