Castle blew Hartlepool out of the water in the first half but then ran out of gas in the second half and had to weather a spirited fightback by the young home team currently in rebuild. On a chilly but bright day and on a pitch that was a tad claggy and sapping to run on, Castle were soon on the front foot and Hartlepool may have been ruing their decision to allow Castle to come down the hill with the sun on their backs. It gave Barnie early momentum and after some nicely constructed phases of play, as the ball was spun down the backline in front of the Hartlepool posts, centre Craig Dominick dinked through the deftest of chip kicks and Adam Firmin on the right wing was able to collect and dot down for an easy try. Hartlepool seemed somewhat stunned but after a couple of fumbles in midfield by Castle from the kick-off, a solid scrum allowed the Hartlepool back line to show that they too could break the gain line and assisted by a missed tackle, their centre was able to break through and score. The scoring spree continued when the Hartlepool hooker infringed from the kick-off and Adam Haynes popped over a challenging penalty effortlessly. Better was to follow, when a beautifully weighted long pass from fly-half Kirk Thompson was gathered by centre Craig Dominick who waltzed through the incoming tackle and breezed over close to the sticks. Minutes later winger Ian Spence gathered a clearance kick just inside the Hartlepool half and carried well before going to ground. Three or four forward phases followed involving Andrew Clement and Ian Hanvey before hooker Rob Stanwix, playing scrum-half, put Craig Dominick into enough space to round the Hartlepool winger and drive through the fullback again. With some twenty-five minutes gone, Castle were comfortably ahead 5-20 and only one more try was required to gain that all important bonus point. Lock Jonathan Kemp-Ambler had his best game for a while stealing ball in the lineout and working well in concert with Eggs and Haynes in creating good driving forward play down the park. It was he that set-up scrum-half Liam Smart for the fourth try passing off the floor at the end of one of his rampaging runs allowing Liam to stroll over the line unchallenged. Haynes added the extra points and Castle went into the break 5-27 ahead and in cruise control. The second half was a poor one from a Castle point of view as their relaxed approach was evident. The basics were forgotten, tackles lacked bite and there were some dreadful out-of-hand kicks that helped put Hartlepool back in the driving seat. Credit should also be given to Hartlepool's young side who led by their new fly-half and a robust performance from their bald blind-side flanker, took the game back to Castle as the second half wore towards the close creating two nicely crafted tries. At 17-27, Hartlepool almost scented a bonus point by getting to within seven of Castle and were thankful that Mark Zissler pulled off a try-saving tackle as the game entered the final quarter. Any Hartlepool hopes were finally quashed when Barnie woke up in the final minute, drove up the pitch with lock Chris Dodd and veteran flanker Phil Dixon nearly combining to get over but in the process gaining a last minute penalty for their side which Haynes duly despatched through the middle of the posts. Elsewhere in the league, Consett, seemingly invincible earlier in the season, were finally beaten on their visit to Whitley Bay who move up to fourth as a result. Blyth remain in top spot after their 83-0 demolition of North Shields although they have played two more games than both Castle and Consett.

With Castle yet to play Consett at home, and Consett having to face in-form Blyth next week, the remote chances of a promotion for Barnie suddenly don't seem quite as remote after all.