ON A wonderful day for Darlington and Teesside clubs, relegation worries were greatly eased.

Darlington's third successive win almost certainly means they need only one more victory from their remaining four games to secure a third season in National Three North.

They avenged a home defeat by Blaydon with a 26-7 win which plunged the Crow Trees club back into trouble.

There was also a superb win for Middlesbrough, who moved out of North One's bottom three by beating leaders Preston Grasshoppers 23-15 at Acklam Park.

Stockton's 29-20 home win against Sandal left their visitors in the third relegation spot in North Two East, three points behind Stockton with three games left.

After going behind to a converted try in the seventh minute, when Blaydon drove over from a five-metre scrum, Darlington romped into a 20-7 half-time lead.

The second half was dour in comparison, with Blaydon applying a lot of pressure but making too many handling errors to break down a well-organised defence.

After leaving prop Joe Oselton on the bench in recent weeks, Darlington opted for his extra bulk until they sent on Paul Scott for the last ten minutes.

Scrum half Rob Stewart recycled the ball well for Darlington, while full back David Glendenning and winger Frankie Coulson again played well.

They hit back quickly after Blaydon's try and after several phases fly half Paul Lee chipped through and centre Ben Snook gathered the ball and raced 40 metres to score.

David Kell converted and added penalties after 19 and 26 minutes before Lee again kicked through and flanker Martin Howe looked likely to score.

The ball bounced unkindly for him and he over-ran it, but the defence went with him and Glendenning picked up to score from five metres, Kell again converting.

Kell had three penalty chances in the second half and after missing the first he found the target after 60 and 80 minutes for a tally of 16 points.

Middlesbrough surprised the Grasshoppers, who said it was the first time this season their pack had been outplayed.

Boro skipper Gavin Fingland had to drop out with a back injury, but his replacement Mark Kerruish was outstanding, while fly half Simon Moore kicked three penalties and converted both tries.

There was a suspicion of a forward pass as Boro went 7-0 down after two minutes, but they came straight back with a try when the visitors won a scrum but dropped the ball and lock Dave Hinchley picked up and drove over.

Boro fell behind again when a penalty was reversed for backchat, but Moore quickly replied to make it 10-10 at half-time and after the first of several 15-metre forward drives he put them ahead early in the second half.

Another drive produced a try for prop Craig Chapman, but when hooker Richard Horton was sin-binned for handling on the deck close to the line Preston scored to cut the gap to 20-15.

With three minutes to go scrum half Peter Wright chipped ahead for Boro but was obstructed, allowing Moore to land the penalty which made sure of victory.

North Two East leaders Westoe were stretched by Morpeth before winning 36-27, leaving Morpeth on ten points with Horden, who beat Alnwick 19-17 to keep their survival hopes alive.

Redcar moved up a place to fourth from bottom, a point behind Stockton, with an 8-0 win at home to West Hartlepool.

Stockton, who entertain Westoe in the Durham Cup next Saturday, desperately needed the win against Sandal as their remaining league games are at home to Westoe and Huddersfield and away to Hartlepool Rovers.

Stockton led 24-3 at half-time and 29-8 with two minutes left, only to concede two converted tries.

Jeremy Good, who kicked superbly, landed an early penalty, which was quickly wiped out before Stockton scored three tries.

Alan Brown grabbed the ball off Mark Skirving for the first, then full back Andy Bare finished a cracking move involving all the backs, Good converting from the touchline.

A 50-metre run by Brown ended with fellow back row man Nicky Atkinson being driven over, but Sandal dominated the second half.

After an early try they were kept out by good defence and with five minutes left Stockton took a quick penalty, replacement centre Danny Taylor took the ball almost to the line and Brown drove over.