Darlington served notice that their promotion bid is moving into exhilarating overdrive when they won 50-16 at home to promotion rivals Macclesfield on Saturday.

The expected tight game looked like materialising with Darlington leading 9-6 just before half-time. But Macclesfield were rocked by two yellow cards in quick succession and Darlington enjoyed a 25-minute spell in which they juggled more balls than Mrs Blair and kept them all in the air.

They scored seven tries in that period to lead 50-6, and it was only after skipper Paul Lee retired that they eased off and conceded two late tries.

Full back Kieron Thompson kicked three early penalties, but he struggled once the range was over 30 metres, twice falling short.

Visiting fly half Gary Bell was a better striker of the ball and Darlington needed a half-time cushion with second half tries looking unlikely in deteriorating conditions.

They got it by touching down in the 40th and 42nd minutes after the Macclesfield hooker was yellow carded and his replacement followed two minutes later for similarly killing the ball.

Paul Lee decided to add to the numerical superiority by joining a maul to score from a line-out drive, then Mark Butler burst down the middle and Richard Snowball threw a long pass which hit Paul Beattie's boot and shot over the line for the winger to touch down.

Suddenly 19-6 behind, Macclesfield's heads went down and Darlington took full advantage, despite the conditions. Craig Lee broke from halfway and left Butler to cover the last five metres, then hooker Dan Osleton was driven over.

Beattie scored a try even more outrageous than his first when he followed what appeared a fairly aimless hack well inside his own half and continued all the way up the left touchline to touch down in the corner.

From a quickly-taken penalty flanker Martin Howe burst on to a short pass to go under the posts, then a good run by Dan Osleton ended with Del Lewis taking an inside pass to score. Thompson added his third conversion.

Darlington Mowden Park's low confidence again saw them edged out in a tight contest, with a 23-17 defeat at Tynedale leaving them fourth from the bottom of National Three North.

An excellent try by skipper Mark Bedworth deservedly put Mowden 17-13 ahead midway through the second half, but the home half backs had the last word.

Scrum half Mick Dungait scored from close range and the prodigious boot of Phil Belgian added a second conversion followed by a third penalty.

With the referee not too hot on off-side it was a scrappy game and Mowden were unusually slow out of the blocks, conceding a try after three minutes.

Nor were they helped by the lack of an experienced hooker as they lost eight line-outs on their own throw, and they had little answer to Tynedale's rolling maul.

But Mowden played most of the rugby and dominated for 20 minutes after the early try. They levelled the score when they ran the ball out up the left, then moved it right and after a series of pick-and-drives prop Dave Sinclair scored in the corner.

Bedworth added an excellent conversion and landed a penalty, only for Belgian to make it 10-10 then strike again from wide out near halfway after Steve Jones was harshly penalised for a vigorous hand-off.

With the game being played in semi-darkness, Mowden's second try came from a quick drop-out by Bedworth, which bounced nicely for winger Chris Mattison, who raced well into the home half before finding Bedworth on a cleverly-angled run to the line. He also converted, but Tynedale came back strongly to register their first National League win against Mowden in four attempts.

Former Mowden player Kevin McCallum scored two tries, including the winner seconds from time, in Blaydon's 20-18 victory at Dudley Kingswinford.

Dudley were generally on top, but McCallum intercepted under his own posts to open the scoring against the run of play, and cashed in when the hosts tired in the last ten minutes.

Blaydon were also helped by home full back Eddie Smith missing four penalties, but as they were without skipper Dave Guthrie and star No 8 Tom McLaren it was a tremendous win.

They had back row man Ross Duncan and prop Paul Winter sin-binned in quick succession just before half-time and played without a full back for nine minutes, during which they stretched their lead to 10-5 through the first of David Dalrymple's two penalties.

Dudley had forged 18-13 ahead before finding themselves under pressure in the last ten minutes. They kicked for touch on halfway and from a quick throw, Blaydon centre Nathan Ridd made 40 metres before he was stopped just short and flipped up a pass for McCallum to score. Dalrymple's conversion secured the win.

David Tighe landed his third penalty in injury time to earn West Hartlepool's third point of the season in a 16-16 draw at home to Birkenhead Park.

The visitors had a lock sent off in first half stoppage time, but led 11-10 at the break and seemed to have snatched victory with a second try after 78 minutes. Hooker Brett Cullinane scored West's try.

Horden completed a double over Middlesbrough and went above them in North Two East, this time coming from behind after trailing 10-0 at the interval.

Horden had the edge in the scrums, otherwise Boro were on top in the first half and flanker Gavin Fingland scored two close-range tries. In the absence of a recognised kicker, Mark Featherstone missed the conversions.

But Horden's marksman, fly half Andy Turner, was again in good form, scoring 13 points from a try, two penalties and two conversions. Winger Chris Purvis scored the other try from an interception 70 metres out.

Stockton suffered a disappointing 24-8 defeat at home to Morpeth, applying plenty of pressure without being able to take their chances. Their one try was a fine individual effort by winger Simon Crozier, and a penalty by Simon Moore kept them in touch at 13-8, with the final scoreline flattering the visitors.

Hartlepool Rovers kept up the pressure on Durham and Northumberland One leaders Northern with a 20-15 win at Percy Park. Rovers scored tries through Ian Drummond and Andrew Lilley and were always ahead.