DARLINGTON Mowden Park coach John Newton says the squad has been working hard to eradicate costly mistakes as they look to get back to winning ways at Fylde this afternoon.

After recording four straight victories at the start of 2015, Mowden were brought back down to earth with a defeat at Hartpury College last weekend.

The Darlington side felt they should have got something out of the game, but a string of costly errors handed their hosts the win.

Fylde, who lie 13 points ahead in fifth place, haven’t had the best time recently after suffering three straight defeats and Newton revealed they have come up with a game plan they hope can help Mowden record a crucial win.

“Fylde have a lovely style of play,” he said. “They’re a well drilled team, they like to keep the ball and they will attack from every position so we will have to be on our guard.

“If we keep the ball they will get frustrated. It will be a tough encounter, but we’ve trained well this week and we know what we need to do.

“The conditions weren’t great last week, but we know their four tries came from four of our mistakes.

“We’ve been working on that in training so hopefully we can put in a performance for the entire 80 minutes.”

Mowden have lost Rob Conquest for four to six weeks with a torn pectoral muscle, and his absence means George Hedgley comes in following his return from international duty with Scotland Under-20s.

Garry Law comes in at 12 having made a big impact against Hartpury, while Ben Rath plays on the wing against his former club.

Blaydon will look to build on last weekend’s win over Loughborough Students when they travel to Old Albanians.

Will Witty comes in to replace Shaun English, who is on holiday, at second row, while hooker Victor Guignouard starts.

Matt Hall is injured, but Tom Penny and Craig Willis come into the centre. Tom Branwell moves onto the wing and Toby Bain drops to the bench.

Manager Jim Huxley said: “We’ve got a good record down there. We’ve drawn one and won one so we’re as confident as we can be.

“I think they are in a bit of a false position in the league – they’re better than their position suggests – but we will be looking to build on last weekend’s win.”

After a testing time against table topping Guisborough last week, Stockton face another tough fixture when they travel to Hartlepool Rovers who lie fourth, one place above them, in the table.

Stockton will be without number eight Jack Aldus who is away and winger Dan Phinn, who is injured.

Joe Green, a late withdrawal through work commitments last week, returns to fortify the back row and promising teenager Matty Routh reclaims the wing spot.

Guisborough will find themselves under a new type of pressure at Belmangate, after claiming top spot in the Durham and North One.

The Priorymen have been the chasing team for the majority of the season, but now the pressure is on to maintain the top spot.

Last weekend’s 29-0 win at Stockton was Guisborough’s 13th in their last 14, and coach Trevor Edwards could shuffle the pack for the visit of basement boys Sunderland.

In Yorkshire One, Middlesbrough will be looking to rediscover their early season form when they travel to face Old Brodleians.

Boro began the season well, but they have struggled to find their feet since. Boro have won only one of their last five, but victory could take them to within one point of third depending on other results.

West Hartlepool need a win to ease their relegation worries after losing to Northern last week.

West felt they should have been awarded two penalty tries in the defeat, but they will look to bounce back when they travel to Horden.

Their inability to cross the try line has cost them and they will have to put that right in order to increase the gap between themselves and third bottom.

West have targeted at least three wins between now and the end of the season.

Stu Waites finished last week's game back at fly half and will start there with Zac Southern dropping back to full back. Greg Edwards returns on the bench in place of the promising Callum Johnston. In the forwards Ian Pinchen starts with Adam Coates providing the rolling front row replacement.

Joe Rafferty was injured last week so the dynamic Chris Atkins moves up to second row allowing Liam Bailey to continue his return to the back row. Former Horden duo Owen Bennett and Andrew Rollins will both start.

Darlington host Gosforth in Durham and Northumberland One looking for a win after last weekend’s match with Durham City was postponed.