By MARK CASHMAN

Northern Suburbs hooker James Margan scored a double as the Shoremen kept pace with the top end of the Shute Shield competition with a 35-17 win over Southern Districts on Saturday in the 7TWO TV match of the round.

Norths negotiated what was always going to be a difficult game made even harder by the windy conditions that prevailed throughout the 80 minutes at Rat Park.

Souths were always going to come at Norths hard at scrum time with their Super Rugby quality front row that featured Tim Metcher, Andrew Tuala, who played last year at Norths, and Tetera Faulkner.