The scoreline slightly flattered the home side and Sunderland can again take some positives from another defeat.

Sunderland kicked off with the slope in their favour and early exchanges were keen and had centre John Gregson won a one-on-one race for the ball after he kicked through on ten minutes, Sunderland could have found themselves with an early lead.

Soon after, though, Horden fly-half Andrew Turner kicked the first of a number of penalties that would contribute to the Ashbrooke side's downfall.

If there was one criticism of Sunderland on the day it was that at times they lost concentration and so it was on 15 minutes when Horden scrum-half Andy Raine took a quick penalty which resulted in a try in the corner from Adam Maddison.

Sunderland responded well though and their play deserved a score and it came when centre John Gregson split the defence for a try, and with 30 minutes gone Horden led only 8-5.

Sunderland again showed a lack of concentration from the restart and allowed the drop-out to bounce. After a couple of phases. Horden scored a try through Raine, and kicked the conversion.

Turner added another penalty just before half-time to make it 18-5.

The second half was a tight affair, Turner kicked another penalty for Horden before Sunderland responded after some good interlinking play with Tom Townsend scoring a try to make it 21-10.

But Horden pulled away with two late tries from Darren Witte and Raine.
Sunderland chairman Andy Kyle said: "The performance of our side today again showed that we have the ability to pull clear from the bottom of the league."

Sunderland Seconds lost out 40-10 to Horden but up until the second half had been very much in the game with tries from Tom Jordan and Jay Bell. The second half saw Horden put in a stronger performance and they ran out comfortable winners in the end.

Sunderland Thirds put in their best performance of the season in defeating Hartlepool 2II 23-5 at Ashbrooke with tries from Kevin Logan, Mick Armstrong and the outstanding Glen Hurst.

Jake Bellfield kicked two penalties whilst Keith Richardson bagged a conversion.

* Houghton were beaten 64-0 at home to Redcar in Division Two.