Squad news - Goodman, Stowe, Twentyman, Dodds, Stacey, Murphy, Merrett, Wright, Caldwell, Humphreyson, Busby, Moloney, Nash, Duncan, Ward J, Ball, Ward C, Dodd.

The pitch was in remarkably good condition as the match some how started in beautiful sunshine, sponsors thirst quenched in the bar, Scarborough ladies throwing up of the side of the balcony after struggling to drink whilst copying our hip aeroplanes in the warm up !

Acklam side looked much changed from our last outing against them. We started well putting our game plan into action as our forwards got us across the gain line before taking them on out wide. Josh Stacey led the way in early carries as the Acklam lads failed to tackle him. Off he went charging up the field before passing to Johnny Ward who raced in from 50m out. Conversion added by Greg Humphreyson who was making his first start for the first team after promotion from our twos. Novos 7-0

Having only just recovered from his previous run Stacey fielded the kick off and got us going forward again with support from Michael Stowe and Josh Wright. We went deep into Acklam territory with some simple carrying and then putting width on the ball. From a scrum we executed a perfect 8/9/14 to put Angus Duncan over in the corner. Novos 12-0 up.

Stacey again fielded the kick and we were on the attack again with carries from Pete Twentyman, Tommy Goodman and Iain Dodds. One we had created the space the ball was fed to Jez Nash who powered through a half tackle before passing inside to Aedan Moloney. He raced in for a try, converted by Humphreyson. 19-0.

Acklam looked a bit shocked by our start. Despite some decent kick offs we were able to field each one and then start attacking. Humphreyson was running the show beautifully as the Novos machine kicked into another gear. We were creating a lot of space and putting into practice the things we trained on during the week. At one ruck, Alex Caldwell executed a perfect kick over the ruck for Ward to race onto and score his second. Conversion added from wide out by Humphreyson. 26-0.

The game was really open now and we were making a lot of line breaks. Merrett waltzed through between two defenders before off loading to Caldwell who dotted down out wide to make it 31-0. Then just before the half time whistle we were on the attack again. This time we switched the direction of our play and found Ward in space. His hat trick completed before the end of the first half. Novos 36-0 up.

Half time chat about keeping it simple and not letting Acklam enjoy the game. We continued on with our forwards carrying over the gain line with Rob Murphy putting his hand up on several occasions to take the ball forward. Caldwell and Merrett executed a perfect switch near the ruck and Merrett burst through again. He fed the ball to Jez Nash who put the big strides in for a try converted by Humphreyson. Novos 43-0 up.

Kick off fielded by Goodman and forward we went again. Merrett carrying the ball again ghosted through another gap and fed Moloney who raced off for an unconverted try. 48-0 in 50 mins.

From the kick off we created a ruck and again Caldwell kicked beautifully over the ruck for Sam Busby to scorch onto the ball. No support needed this time as he beat the cover defence to score under the posts. Humphreyson added the conversion to make it 55-0.

Acklam had not put up much of a fight but under the posts one of their older players tore into his mates asking for them to get possession and carry the ball forward. Keep it tight and take them on was the cry. It worked as Acklam finally started getting across the gain line for the first time in the game. The scored an unconverted try by charging into us and increasing their physicality. 55-5.

We tried to respond as Merrett made another break and once again fed the ball to Caldwell who scored his second. Humphreyson converted from out wide to make it 62-5.

To Acklams credit they were now competing very well and scored twice as we stood off them. 62-17.

We got back into the grove ten mins from the end as Duncan scored twice to complete his hat trick, both converted by Humphreyson to push the score out to 76-17. Annoyingly, Acklam scored the last try and got a four try bonus point which was perhaps undeserved although they did have a great 20 min period in the second half. Final score 76-24.

Thank you to Dave Charlton for taking charge of the game and it's always great to see him at Novos.

Cheers to the Acklam lads, a great first season in the league. You have done a lot better than we did in our first year in DN1. It was unfortunate that in both games we played against you that we raced into a lead. In each games there were competitive parts of the matches but we were able to punish mistakes. I am unsure how many tries we scored from distance right after you guys dropped the ball. I am adamant that you will consolidate your league position next season.

Hopefully all our sponsors enjoyed our last home game. Without your support the club could not have progressed as much as it has in event years. Thank you to the ladies team for lending their support to our final home match. It has been a great year for the club and you girls have been a massive part of that.

Novos boys - delighted with our home performances this season which saw home victories over top 6 teams Consett, Middlesbrough, Horden and Rovers. Some great tries scored today with some really simple play and doing things that we worked on in training. Two last training sessions of the season so let's get there and go into Darlo flying. Whilst we will be getting ready for our last game there will also be a massive focus on getting Ben Melrose's men ready for their cup final against Boro 2s.

Whilst it was a great win for the first team our best wishes go out to Andy Croft and his family. Andy spent the night in hospital after a head blow whilst representing our thirds. We hope he has a full recovery and we see him at the end of season awards and players dinner.