Whilst not admitting that the club saw this as the real relegation decider, it was clear that the Chairman saw the need to get as many fans as possible down to Bristol in order to give the Falcons the best possible chance of beating Bristol and thus securing Premiership survival for another season.

Further reason for the dawn of new happiness was provided in the next outing at Kingston Park – Gloucester came to the North East flying high towards the top of the league table and few would have given the Falcons much chance against a team studded with star quality: one try apiece from Danny Williams for the Falcons and Rory Lawson for Gloucester plus the conversions saw a 7-7 draw after 43 minutes and the second half was dominated by gutsy defence on both sides. The crucial turning point came in the last ten minutes as Newcastle were awarded a penalty just outside the Gloucester 22. Up stepped Tommy May and stroked the ball home for a 10-7 lead. Furious defensive work from the Falcons saw them emerge worthy winners and caused jubilation in the South Stand as we won our first league game since the visit of Bristol at the end of September.

This was the catalyst for a six-game winning streak in the Premiership, marred only by defeat to Brive (9-10) at Kingston Park on January 17^th in an ECC pool game. A further ECC win over El Salvador at Pepe Rojo (14-43) in the dying embers of January saw the Falcons do enough to qualify for the quarter finals in April and a game against Saracens.

Falcons’ captain Phil Dowson was named skipper of the England Saxons at the end of the month, surprising some who questioned his ability to lead his domestic team, let alone a team of internationals. However, Davey Wilson was also called up to the squad and across the remainder of the season impressed enough to have England knocking on the door, leading eventually to his decision to sign for Bath so as to secure regular first team rugby rather than play second fiddle to Carl Hayman at Kingston Park.

A short break in the domestic season for the first games of the Six Nations Championship saw the Falcons rested and ready for their showdown against Bristol on Friday 13^th February. And what a showdown it proved to be; the North Easterners shattering Bristol’s hopes with a thumping 3-35 win on the back of a sterling performance from the forwards, nabbing all four of the Falcons’ tries: Geoff Parling, Brent Wilson, Ed Williamson and Andy Perry all getting their name on the score sheet and excellent kicking from Tom May seeing the Falcons clear to a famous and crucial victory.

It was reason to celebrate – the win that seemed to have secured our survival came at just the right time. With more crucial games looming, the Falcons needed to hit some form in order to ensure that they wouldn’t be playing on the parks of Moseley, Bedford or Penzance next season.

Alan Tait warned that complacency would see the Falcons dropped right back into trouble and was determined that nothing other than a good performance at Kingston Park against the next visitors, Saracens, would be acceptable.

In the week that Dave Thompson held a talk-in with supporters and made encouraging noises about the future of the Falcons, Saracens came north to Kingston Park chasing a Heineken Cup place for next season whilst the Falcons were still battling to ensure Premiership survival for 2009-2010. On a wet pitch, the game was dominated by kicking and the Falcons were struggling at halftime, being 3-9 down thanks to the boots of Tom May and Glen Jackson. “A halftime rollicking” courtesy of Steve Bates and Alan Tait saw the Falcons come out fighting for the second half, Rudd crossing the line after ten minutes for the only try of the game, atoning for his indiscipline after being binned in the first half. May’s subsequent conversion and penalty on 75 minutes secured another fine win for the Geordies, coming out eventual winners 13-9 and making the drop to ND1 look even more unlikely.

Sizeable price cutting measures came into force at Kingston Park in preparation for the 2009-2010 season – now that survival was almost guaranteed, the club announced season ticket prices at more attractive levels than 2008-2009 and assuring season ticket holders that at no point next season would their pro-rate ticket cost be undercut by club-instigated special offers, a particular bone of contention with loyal fans.

On the back of this increasing optimism, the Falcons bade farewell to February with a trip to Northampton – the Saints had an intimidating home record, being unbeaten at Franklins Gardens for almost two years (one of which was spent in ND1, let’s not forget) and the Falcons put paid to that in fine style, winning 13-19 through a ten-minute blitz that shocked the home fans and seemed to stun the opposition: Jon Golding, Danny Williams and Tom May all crossed the whitewash with the latter two tries converted by the stand-in standoff. The remainder of the game was a stern test of Alan Tait’s defensive improvements as the men in black dug in deep to keep the waves of Saints attack at bay.

Tongues were wagging, spirits were on the rise and the dark days of earlier in the season were almost dispelled – something had clicked, something had started to work its magic on the players and fans alike and whatever it was, we liked it. Indeed, it was not only us one-eyed blinkered Northerners who liked what the Falcons were producing: Tom May and Steve Bates won the GP Player of the Month and DoR of the Month awards respectively after they were deemed to be the principal architects behind the mid-season revival.

There was no time to rest on metaphorical laurels however, and the following week saw the resurgent Falcons make the trip to Edgeley Park, home of the Sale Sharks. It appeared to be back to the usual dismal form for Newcastle as they slumped to a 13-0 margin thanks to “lax defence and discipline” but the mother of all fight backs was to follow: tries from Williams, Golding, Andrew Fenby and Brent Wilson plus unerring kicking from May saw the Falcons romp home convincingly with a 25-32 victory.

All was not happiness in the Falcon camp though – Davey Wilson was leaving. The iconic prop needed regular starts at tighthead to push himself forward for England honours and the small matter of Carl Hayman was preventing this. Bath were the beneficiaries of Davey’s signature and apparently paid top whack for the services of the young tighthead, largely to replace the sizeable hole left in their squad by the two year ban handed out to Matt Stevens for cocaine use. There were other rumours of members leaving, but nothing concrete had been confirmed – this would soon change.

Five wins on the trot, a hat-trick of away wins in the Premiership: how different everything looked through eyes that had seen some decent performances of late. All seemed likely to change the following week with the arrival of an impressive Harlequins team at Kingston Park – third in the table and orchestrators of some fine attractive rugby, it would take a monumental effort to bag yet another home win and secure yet more precious league points.

Both teams were on the back of five game winning streaks and something had to give. It was looking tense at the death, Falcons having the edge 17-16 thanks to a try from Tim Visser and the remainder of the points from the boot of the mercurial May. The clock had ticked down to zero and Quins were desperately flinging the ball around, trying to make the breakthrough that would see them win the game and bag the points – Malone’s mistake with a stray pass gave Tom May the interception from heaven and allowed the flyhalf to run the length of the pitch and into the South Stand in-goal area, scoring the decisive try for the Falcons. The South Stand erupted; all was well with the world – six wins in a row!

Again, bad news was close at hand: another key departure was announced to confirm the rumours that had been doing the rounds for a few weeks. Geoff Parling, an Academy product and a potent weapon in the Falcons’ arsenal, was leaving for an unannounced club although everyone knew it was Leicester. This would be followed in subsequent weeks by other departures, some officially announced and others seemingly slipping out through the back door without fanfare: crucially, skipper Phil Dowson announced he had signed for Northampton, Joe McDonnell and Russell Winter announced their retirement and then Tom May joined the numbers of domestic players seeking their fortunes in France – as yet unconfirmed rumours also link Sicknote with Toulon and Jamie Noon with Brive: all big losses and indicating a massive hit on the squad for next season.

Back on the league front, a trip to The Rec beckoned for the Falcons and a Bath team who ruthlessly punished all indiscretions at the breakdown and set piece – fifteen points from the boot of Butch James gave the hosts a lead that the Falcons just could not overcome and the amazing winning streak was halted thanks to a 36-25 beating down in Bath. Matching the hosts in terms of try count is not sufficient to win a rugby game these days, not when you lack the discipline at those crucial moments.

The final game of March saw the visit of Leicester Tigers, Geoff Parling’s new club, to Kingston Park bringing with them their hopes of another GP trophy to add to the collection. Top of the table at the end of the previous week, Leicester had a squad full of international stars and one that was packed with talent but were made to look ordinary under the floodlights at Kingston Park. All fourteen of the Falcons points were scored without answer in the first half, a beautifully-crafted build up forming the backbones of Tane Tu’ipulotu’s award-winning try after fifteen minutes and two penalties and a drop goal from the effervescent Tom May. Whispers went around the press box of a potential whitewash, but it wasn’t to be: ex-Falcon Toby Flood getting the Tigers on the scoreboard after fifty minutes with a well-taken penalty.

It was still looking as if we could hold Leicester to a single penalty until, once more, youthful naiveté proved the crucial difference. At a ruck right at the death, Micky Young just had to get the ball off the park to keep the Tigers in single figures – instead, he dithered and tried a box kick over the onrushing defence. A charge down, five points from Ben Youngs and the subsequent conversion from Flood salvaged the losing bonus point for Leicester but we had still beaten the league leaders 14-10 – no mean feat!

Next: It didn't last

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