Horden got their promotion campaign back on track with one of the club's most outstanding league results.
The colliery side could not have travelled to Gosforth in the most confident of moods – they had lost to the league's top two on successive Saturdays and had been crushed on their previous visit to Druid Park.
Horden had struggled badly on Gosfort
h's artificial grass last season, losing 31-6, but there were no problems this time around.
The Welfare Park outfit ran riot to score five tries, to only one in reply.
The 40-10 result meant Horden moved above Gosforth into third place on points difference and they trail undefeated top two Rovers and Percy Park by four points.
"The performance was a lot better," said coach David Turner. "There is still work for us to do if we're going to get near the top two.
"But it's a start. Our line-out and scrummage were much improved and our discipline a little better although we again had another sin-binning.
"We scored some good tries and overall we put in a good performance, with everyone playing well."
It was not plain sailing for Horden, who were pushed hard by the hosts in the first half.
Gosforth led 10-6 thanks to a Campbell penalty and a converted try by winger Merton, with Horden replying with two Andrew Turner penalties.
Horden though got 13-10 in front before the break when winger Chris Purvis ran in a try which Andrew Turner converted.
After the break, Horden put their foot on the gas.
They ran in four unanswered tries including one from the returning Paul Bruce, who had come in for the injured Ian Cox.
The winger turned the clock back to dance his way through 'Brucey style' to touch down while youngster David Mason put on a supersub performance, setting up Andrew Turner for a try and scoring one himself. Summer signing Darren Witte also scored a try.
Andrew Turner converted two and added a penalty to finish the contest with 20 points.
Neil Hartley made a fine return to the side at scrum-half while David Heckles ran well from full-back.
There is a break in the league programme this weekend when Horden will be in cup action against North Shields in the National Senior Vase.
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