Thankfully in the second half we saw a much better show, and a try from John Rudd added to the boot of Tom May lifted us back up to ninth in the table, with the prospect of moving up another place if results go our way this weekend and we beat Northampton in a week's time. This was the first time in over three years that we have secured a third Premiership win on the bounce, I was surprised to learn.

The Master, with that title now seemingly a bit more serious following last week's glorious victory over Bristol, stuck with the same XXII that kicked butt at the Memorial Stadium but it was Sarries who were on the scoresheet early this week with a Glen Jackson penalty, as the Falcons' discipline deserted them in the early stages.

Phil Dowson saved a certain try by outpacing Kameli Ratuvou on the left following a loose pass and forcing the winger to knock on, but two further penalty from Jackson taking the visitors further ahead.

The impression I got in the first half was a lack of confidence, particularly among the backs who were hesitant under the high or long ball and many players seemed reluctant to take tackles. One hospital ball in particular on halfway took a miracle for us not to get turned over.

We looked like a team who had lost by 30 points the previous week, not won by 30 – I'm all for keeping players' feet on the ground but while telling players what they did wrong, tell them what they did right too so they can repeat it!

One late penalty from May kept us in the hunt, and then in the second half the Falcons came out like a changed team. They now played more with the ball in hand and were much more aggressive going into tackles. They were almost rewarded with some forward battering on the right, and from a 5m scrum Micky Young looked to go around the outside but was easily bundled into touch.

It was Rudd though who made up for an innocuous first half sin-binning to battle through a tackle and score his second league try of the season – it's a time for unlikely scorers at the moment – and May, as he was wont to do, slowly stepped up to kick us into a slender 10-9 lead.

With Saracens now behind, we had to be careful not to let them back in straight away and credit to the boys, in the remaining half an hour our opponents didn't spend a great deal of time in our 22, never attempting a drop goal, and we usually managed to keep them on halfway. The defence really has improved, what we now need to do is score more tries on a consistent basis.

May missed a penalty to stretch our lead further after Saracens had been reduced to 14 men thanks to Justin Marshall's transgressions, but made no mistake five minutes from time. Saracens now needed to cross the line, but again we held them on halfway and kept our discipline better than earlier.

Finally the clock ticked past zero and I could swear we knocked on – but apparently not, and the ball was kicked out to the elation of the 6,000+ inside Kingston Park who had produced another superb atmosphere.

We can look forward to more days like this next season, as if we weren't safe at 12 points ahead of Bristol, they certainly aren't going to make up 16 with just eight games left.

With higher crowds hopefully due to the sensible season ticket prices for which I congratulate Mr Thompson and the club, the future looks a lot brighter than it did just a month and a half ago, before we embarked on our best league run since November 2005-January 2006.

The last time we won a fourth league game in a row was, off the top of my head, when we beat Harlequins in September 2004 to go top of the table, although that run included one victory at the end of the previous season, at Rotherham.

Well done to man of the match Micky Young, who must be cemented as our first choice scrum half now, and Tu'ipulotu and Noon who are both really coming into form. May might not have been as effective at fly half as against Bristol, but he still had a decent game, and the lineout was decent for the most part.

And last but not least, well done to the poster whose column was on the Supporters Club page in the programme last night – great read.

Onwards and upwards!

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon

Related Articles:

• Destroyed
• Falcons steal home win
• Oh, my life!