It’s testament to the performance that having entered the game with a feeling that if the score was within 20 points it would be a big achievement, the end of the game left a feeling of disappointment at how close victory had been. Still, the players could hold their heads up high and despite missing out on this occasion certainly left no doubt in anyone’s mind that they can play rugby of a level higher than the current league table suggests.

As always in this sort of situation there are plenty of “what if’s” the biggest perhaps being if West had scored points from numerous chances early in the second half rather than towards the end things would have been even more interesting. But it would certainly be wrong to focus on the disappointment of the loss rather than the positives that came out of the game. A neutral fan would, for the most part, have struggled to tell you there was two leagues difference between these sides as West refused to give an inch to the much bigger Darlington side. The tackling was tremendous and particular credit must go to the back row who kept Alan Brown quiet, something not many teams have been able to do over the last few seasons.

Darlington had started the stronger and were pressing on the West line early on. It was crucial for West not to concede early and they weathered the storm but didn’t help themselves by trying to get the ball wide in their own 22 when they should have been looking to clear their lines.

It was always going to be a case of the longer West could frustrate the visitors the better chance they would have and the visiting backs certainly found it hard to get going with plenty of dropped balls and loose passes in the opening quarter. It took until the 25th minute for Darlo to get a score with former Hartlepool second row Stu Palmer going over for a try after peeling off a rolling maul. Lee Davies added the conversion.

West continued to hold out for the remainder of the half despite some dubious tactics at the scrum by Rob Andrew’s brother Dave who seemed to be disrupting the base of the West scrum from a consistently offside position. This didn’t help West in gaining many attacking positions but the lineout was functioning well and Tim Sawyer had nicked a couple of Darlington put-ins at the scrum. The best chance came when a backs move seemed to go wrong but the increasingly confident Paul Moss lofted a kick for Chris Lambert who although beaten to the ball, tackled his opponent behind the goal line for a 5m scrum. Unfortunately Andrew again snuffed out any chance of an attack from the base and West couldn’t get any points.

A stirring team talk at half time and a look at the scoreboard must have given the home side confidence as in the second half they began to attack with more purpose and start to cause Darlington some problems. They set about getting on level terms and almost did so when the brilliant Lambert made a 70 metre break only to be tackled just short and see his looping pass back inside fall to no hand. West could not benefit from the close lineout that resulted and failed again from a similar position on the other side of the field. These were crucial moments that West needed to convert into points and if they had would have looked like favourites to go on and win. Darlington were beginning to look out on their feet and their only attacking weapon that was working was the rolling maul. Sensibly they kept it tight and almost scored with a maul after a couple of close lineouts but again the West defence was heroic and they managed to clear.

West had encountered problems getting the ball to the wingers at times with Darlington’s rush defence there by the time the ball reached the centres. A couple of kicks in behind them had been successful and when Darren Thomas nudged one through for Lambert to chase there was only going to be one winner. The 18 year old picked up with hardly a red shirt near him to touch down for the third time in as many games. Moss converted from a wide position to tie the scores and looking at the Darlington players under the posts they appeared to be a beaten side with 15 minutes still to play.

Unfortunately for West they couldn’t get back into an attacking position and referee Chris Wray, who had incurred the wrath a West coaches and fans most of the day after Darlington seemed to get up to a lot of borderline tactics at the ruck, awarded a kickable penalty which Lee Davies had no problem with.

This was just what West didn’t need as it killed their momentum and gave Darlington belief again. Further penalties on 78 and 80 minutes sealed the game but the cheers from some youthful travelling support were not mirrored by most players and fans who certainly knew they’d been in a game and were lucky to be coming away winners.

For West a huge amount of confidence can be taken forward to next week and a performance like this against Stockton is a must if we are to break the Norton club’s run of 3 wins from 3 games against us.

West: Thomas, Lambert, Edwards, Hodgson, Weegram, Moss (Wallis), Tighe, Cullinane, Sawyer, Robinson, Rudd, Davies, D Boatman, Tones (Carr), J Boatman
Subs not used: Phillips, Hare

Try: Lambert
Con: Moss

Darlington: Davies, Coulson, Kororua, C Lee, Crozier, P Lee, Andrew, Osleton, Gribble, Shepherd, Palmer, Snowball, Lewis, Taylor, Brown
Subs: Livingston, Forest, Naga, Stewart

Try: Palmer
Con: Davies
Pens: Davies 3

Referee: Chris Wray [Durham Society]