With several players declaring themselves unavailable for this first game of the season, Ali Macdonald took an improvised squad up to Northallerton, featuring four debutants. The Bees got off to the best possible start with a Dom Walker penalty bisecting the uprights in the first minute. Getting the first points on the board put the Bees on the front foot in the opening exchanges. With several backs missing, it was clear that the Bees would be sending their big men straight up the middle at the home defence, with Jim Nicholas, Luke Spauls, Innocent Mazhambe and Bryn Adamson all having gallops up the middle. Nicholas was an ankle tap away from breaking clear more than once and Northallerton defended well to keep the score down. It was not all one-way traffic by any means, and the home side tried to get the ball wide as often as they could with their big men trying to batter through the Bees' defence.

After 33 minutes the Bees finally broke through as Corey Spencer found himself with some space close to the line and able to plough over to the right of the posts in front of the clubhouse. Dom Walker landed the extra points and it was 10 nil with half time approaching. On a sloping pitch, it is difficult to gauge how much of an advantage the pitch might offer, but as the second half got underway the Bees were again holding the upper hand in the early exchanges. With 4 minutes played in the second half, Alex Leadbeater was on hand to claim a score to extend the visitors advantage to 15 points. Seven minutes later the home side's efforts were rewarded as wingman Reece Brammah crossed the whitewash out wide. Jedd Bainbridge added the conversion.

As the Bees pressed a number of chances went begging as Mazhambe was denied twice in quick succession out on the right. The first near miss came as a desperate lunge from a home defender knocked the ball away from the Bees player in the act of touching down and secondly, as Mazhambe dotted down the referee stopped the game for a head injury fifteen metres infield. However, the visitors were not to be denied and on 62 minutes, Lewis Brooke broke from a lineout to score. Walker slotted the extras and it was now 22 points to 10, as the game entered the final quarter.

The home side lifted their game and although both sides had periods of dominance as the second half continued, it was the home side who were next on the scoresheet as Tom Peacock galloped over. with the conversion and than earlier penalty from Bainbridge, it was 22 17 as the game wound down to the last five minutes. Northallerton looked the more likely to finish the game with a score as they pressed towards the clubhouse. The Bees then lost debutant Robson Moore to an injury and the sin bin, as the wingman took a nasty-looking bang as he scrambled to defend at a ruck, which saw him helped from the field of play by his Bees colleagues, followed by a yellow card for his straying offside in his defensive efforts.

The home support was willing their men towards the line as the fourteen men in Bees colours defended gamely. Bees supporters could barely watch as the home side inched nearer, but as time was up, the Bees were able to start their season with a win for the first time in five or six seasons.