Horden enjoy that winning feeling again

HORDEN got back to winning ways thanks to a comprehensive win and welldeserved victory at Stockton.

Good defence work kept Stockton at bay, however, it was Horden who went ahead with a well- worked try.

Paul James broke the defensive line and fed Richie Thirkell, who linked up with Davey Smith to put Craig Jones away to score in the corner for his tenth try of the season.

Stockton closed the gap with a couple of penalties before Horden scored again.

Kieran Forbes made a turnover on the halfway, allowing James, Newton Turton and Paul Malcolm to combine, where they released Harry Cox, who showed good strength to score out wide.

A great individual score then made it 20- 6. From a line- out on the halfway, Neil Hartley outpaced the cover to go under the posts.

Horden scored again early in the second half when David Bains and Luke Watson combined to put Cox away, but he was hauled down just short, only for skipper Michael Thubron to pick up and stretch over the line to score.

Full- back David Heckles scored the next after an excellent break from Smith, who carved through the midfield.

Heckles was creating all sorts of problems for the home side and he took the ball forward before feeding Thubron, who stretched his legs to go over for his second try.

A Watson kick was miscued slightly and was caught by sub winger Oliver, who raced the length of the pitch to score to make it 44- 6.

Horden kept on pressing and the last score came right on full- time when James and Watson put Heckles away with the full- back offloading to Smith, who stepped inside the last man for a deserved try.

However, Jones’ conversion bounced off the crossbar as Horden closed the game out.