Gateshead Senators: With their home field at Gateshead Stadium being refurbished, the Gateshead Senators turned out to play the Glasgow Tigers in North Shields.

The Tigers visiting offence took the field at the 24-yard line in driving rain and went straight to the ground game. Gateshead's defence took over where it left off last week and stood firm on the first drive forcing the Tigers to punt from their 27-yard line. With the wind at their backs, Gateshead's first play was a two-yard loss from a Craig Million run. After a Glasgow penalty on the next

play, Gateshead faced a first and ten at the Glasgow 42-yard line. Craig Million duly took the ball and burst through the line to scamper 42 yards untouched into the end zone. The extra point was missed which gave Gateshead a narrow lead six to zip. The ball was then kicked off back to Glasgow and with the ball going out

of bounds on the eight; Glasgow started their next drive on the thirty after the penalty. Glasgow immediately went to the air and a 10-yard swing pass gave them a first down and ten on the 40-yard line. Defensive stands by Boy de Waart,

Derek Parry and Garry Catherall saw the Tigers gain just 1 yard over the next three downs. With Gateshead taking the ball from the punt on the sixteen, Dave Nimmins guided a 12-play 74 yard drive before Craig Million ran 12 yards into the end zone to make the score Gateshead 12, Glasgow 0. With a roll-out by Dave Nimmins, the pass connected with Lee Fraser in the end zone for the two-point conversion to give Gateshead a two score advantage.

Glasgow again went to the air, but after a three and out were forced to punt, Gateshead took over on the opponent's 28-yard line after a twenty-yard return by rookie Ed Morgan. The Tigers 'D' stood firm and on a fourth and three stopped

Jonathan Rooney short of the first down marker. The first quarter came to an end with the Tigers driving deep out of their twenty looking to narrow the margin. Faced with third and four on their own 39, Glasgow went to the air only to see the ball fly wide of the mark and away from the receivers hands and out of

bounds. After a muffed punt, Gateshead took over on the Glasgow 26 and stuttered on the 17-yard line until a bootleg by Nimmins saw him pushed out of bounds on the two-yard line. With first and goal on the two, Michael Rumney

powered his way off-tackle for the score. With an incomplete pass into the end zone and the weather improving, Gateshead led half way through the second quarter 20-0.

On the next drive, three straight incomplete passes by Glasgow and an excellent special teams punt gave Gateshead a first and ten at there own 1 yard line. With time running out in the half, Gateshead drove forty-one yards in four plays using a good mix of both pass and run. From there, Craig Million was sprung free by an excellent block from lineman Mark Hume. From there, Craig ran forty-seven yards to score and make the score 26-0. With a successful extra point, the score

approaching half time was Gateshead 27- Glasgow 0. On the next drive, just before the two-minute warning, Glasgow again went with three incomplete passes. Faced with a fourth and ten at their own forty three, Glasgow tried a fake punt

which resulted only a seven yard gain and a turnover on downs. Gateshead went to the air and with time running out a pass into the end zone by Nimmins was picked off by Glasgow.

The third quarter kicked off with Glasgow fired up and forcing the Senators to punt for the first time. Glasgow could not move the ball and faced with a third and ten at the Gateshead thirty, Matt McCkusker was sacked for an eleven-yard

loss by Senators Boy de Waart. Punting from the forty-one, the ball dropped on the one yard line and gave the Senators another long drive to accomplish. This however was not to be and on a broken offensive play, Linebacker John Walkinshaw tackled running back Jonathan Rooney in the end zone for a safety. The Tigers were on the board and the momentum was starting to shift. Both sides then traded punts and the third quarter closed with the Gateshead taking the ball at the Tigers forty.

Gateshead then got back in the game by eating up the clock using controlled running, which led to Michael Rumney going in from the two. A successful pass to Lee Fraser in the end zone added another two points to the score. Trailing and midway through the fourth quarter, Glasgow mixed up their plays to try and kick-start some offensive action. After being sacked again and left deep in their own red zone, a short punt gave Gateshead the ball back on the 28 yard line. The drive stalled and incomplete pass on fourth and five gave the Tigers another opportunity from their nine-yard line. The Senators then picked up the pace and drove twenty-one yards to the nine-yard line. From there, a pinpoint pass to Matthew Barton in the corner of the end zone increased the lead to 41-2. Going for the two-point conversion, a high pass was pulled in by Christopher Mayne to make the score 43-2. The Senator 'D' had the final say, sacking the quaterback again as time expired to see Gateshead Senators run out winners 41-2 over the Glasgow Tigers. Gateshead's go undefeated into the next game (May 18th) away to Tees Valley Cougars, which makes it a Tees, Tyne derby. Tees Valley however come off a 32-0 thumping by Dundee and will be looking to make amends for their recent poor form.

Scoreline: Gateshead Senators 43 Glasgow Tigers 2

Tees Valley Cougars

The Tees Valley Cougars American Football Team travel away to their most distant fixture against The Dundee Hurricanes.

After a five-hour coach trip controversy raised its head as the games pitch was judged to be unsafe for players and after much serious consultation between both team's coaches and referees, a decision was made to play the game some 30 minutes later on another pitch, which had barely any markings.

The first quarter saw the Hurricanes score six points and miss the kick after and this was repeated in the second quarter, bringing the half time score to Hurricanes 12,, Cougars 0. Despite the Cougars coach's effort to fire up their team, the third quarter saw the Hurricanes score another six points and then a further 12 points in the quarter, plus a two-point conversion without ant reply from the disjointed Cougars Offence. The game finished Hurricanes 32, Cougars 0.