Darlington too good

Mowden had lost 5-0 against lowly Dudley in a match which team manager Jim Dyson described as "pathetic".

Looking to bounce back from that defeat in the Division Three (North) derby at Blackwell Meadows, Mowden found themselves on the losing side once more, going down by 28 points to 22.

The single crumb of comfort for the away side was that at least they gained one point for staying within a score of their opponents.

Darlington, who deserved their victory as Mowden scored all their tries against the run of play, opened the scoring after 16 minutes when Frankie Coulson made the most of good play by Richard Snowball.

With their mind on what had just gone and not on the opposition, Darlington conceded a penalty on the restart with Michael Georgiou converting to reduce the arrears.

A second infringement gave possession to Mowden and they made the most of the opportunity. Good pace and handling through the centres enabled Matt Wright to go in under the posts.Georgiou notched the conversion as Mowden took the lead.

However, their joy was short-lived as a penalty from Ben Snook saw the ball land close to the Mowden line and a faultless lineout gave Darlington a solid platform from which the forwards were able to drive over, Dan Oselton putting the ball down to draw the sides level at 10-10.

The teams weren't locked together for long, however, as some good play from Martin Shaw caught the home defence out of position and winger Georgiou burst down the right flank to score and put his side five points to the good at the break.

Darlington started the second half brightly, and Mark Potts and Robert Stewart combined to make good ground inside the 22.

Some good recycling allowed Martin Howe and Dell Lewis the chance to force their way towards the line and when the ball reached Snowball he twisted past the Mowden defence to score close to the posts.

Kell added the conversion and then extended the lead to 20-15 with a successful 51st minute penalty.

Darlington continued to push but in doing so left themselves exposed at the back and when Rob Stewart lost the ball 25 metres from the Mowden line a four on two overlap saw Mowden race the ball upfield to score through Matty Brown.

The conversion was successful but, sadly for Mowden, it was to be their last score of the contest.

With ten minutes left, Darlington began to edge their way into the opposition half and a 30 metre penalty kick from David Kell edged the score back in their favour.

As the game entered injury time, player coach Craig Lee secured a bonus point for his side when he forced himself over from five metres out to put the seal on the victory. The result leaves Mowden eighth and Darlington 11th.

In the same division, Blaydon beat Fylde 25-15. The home side started well with Dave Marwick going over after just five minutes. However, the visitors hit back to score twice in three minutes.

Dan Clappison scored a penalty with the last kick of the half and after the restart Blaydon's forwards assumed authority.

Jim Haughton went over from a rolling maul and Clappison notched the conversion. A long-range penalty reduced the deficit for Fylde but Blaydon finished strongly and Clappison executed his fourth kick of the game to end the scoring.

Middlesbrough went down 14-8 to the Vale of Lune in North Division One after pressing the self-destruct bottom after half-time.

Needing a victory in their fight to stave off relegation, second-bottom Middlesbrough will perhaps point to the sin-binning of Craig Chapman for alleged cheating as one factor in the loss.

After their Lancaster-based opponents went 3-0 up via a second minute penalty, Middlesbrough drew level through the boot of David Richardson.

The away side restored the lead through a fine individual try from captain Andrew Micklewright. The ball was driven up the centre of the park and Micklewright collected 25 yards out. He still had plenty of work to do, but beat several players with some fancy footwork before going over for the score. The conversion was missed but Middlesbrough were still confident of taking a healthy lead into the break.

However, as half-time approached Vale of Lune reduced the margin to two points after they successfully kicked a penalty.

When play restarted things deteriorated quickly for Middlesbrough. Vale of Lune brought the scores to 9-8 and then Chapman was made to leave the action for ten minutes by the referee.

A man down, Vale of Lune made the North-East side pay when they scored an unconverted try to seal the victory.

Middlesbrough spokesman Mike Reid said the loss was a bitter pill to swallow.

"It was a great shame because we needed that win, it was a bottom of the table clash and we really needed to win it," he said. "All is not lost because there are five sides at the bottom that still have to play each so we just have to pull ourselves together and win some matches."

A minimum of three teams will go down from the division but Reid thinks Middlesbrough are capable of ensuring they are not one of them.

"We have just got to pull ourselves together and I think we can," he said. "We have still got to play (fourth bottom) Altrincham twice so if we can win those two we are in with a good shout.

"It's still in our hands and we just have to jolly well pull ourselves together."

In their rearranged Yorkshire Three league game Northallerton trounced Bramley Phoenix 37-0.

Northallerton went into the break 10-0 to the good with scores coming from wingers Ed Pratt and Ian Townsend (two each), Martin Strong, James Reid and Derek Kieloh. Jason Bingley scored a lone conversion.

In Powergen North Two East, David Tighe kicked 15 points as West Hartlepool beat Morpeth 26-5 to make it four home victories in a row. Anth Carr and Allan Milne scored tries, with both conversions missed by Tighe, who made amends with five penalties. Hartlepool Rovers beat Horden 29-19.