After failing to record a victory last season the East Midland Saxons finally put a notch in the win column beating the visiting Merseyside Nighthawks 32-8.

The Saxons dominated play from the opening kick-off as they took the ball the length of the field, ending the opening drive with a 7 yard touchdown run from Adam Gumbs. Dale Hawes added the extra point.

The drive illustrated the Saxons strength all day as the offensive line proved too strong for the visiting defence, giving the runningbacks space to run in and the quarterbacks time to throw.

Merseyside finally got their hands on the ball from the ensuing kick-off but failed to make a dent in a strong Saxons defence led by lineman Daryl Drake and linebackers Mickey Howling and Ian Sturgess.

It wasn’t long before the home side were back on the scoreboard as Darren Cockayne registered the first of his two touchdowns from 2 yards out, this time the conversion failed, to make the score 13-0.

Strong defence continued with Drew Hunt intercepting the Merseyside quarterback to give the ball back to the Saxons offence. Cockayne then scored his second touchdown from 7 yards out, and the conversion was successful.

Merseyside soon registered their only score, a short run from their quarterback and a successful two point conversion, the drive featured a couple of strong runs and was also extended by undisciplined Saxons play which led to several key penalties resulting in first downs.

This made the half time score 20-8.

The second half featured more of the same with strong running from Mark Blackwell and Darren Griffiths and resulted in touchdown for runningback Buddy Williams, the conversion failed.