WEST Hartlepool remain a little close for comfort to the bottom three in North One East after a 33-23 defeat at Alnwick.

A controversial last-minute try denied them a bonus point when the home forwards broke off an attacking maul and Stu Waites tackled the man with the ball.

It was arguable whether the maul was still intact, but the referee ruled that it was and awarded a penalty try.

It restored the gap Alnwick opened early on following a try by centre Ali Gray plus a conversion and penalty by Newcastle Falcons Academy captain James Bird.

Inbetween the early and late scores it was an even contest, centre Eldon Myers scoring his second try in two games for West while the rest of their points came from Zac Southern.

One of his three penalties was a long-range effort into the wind in the second half, while he also capitalised on a Luke Mallinson break and forward pressure to score the try which levelled the scores at 23-23.

Alnwick quickly went back in front with a penalty before claiming their bonus point try at the death.

The end of the season cannot come quickly enough for Westoe, whose relegation from National Three North is inevitable after they followed their 97-8 defeat by Sandal with another drubbing. They conceded 12 tries in losing 79-7 at home to Waterloo.

Guisborough will remain confident of automatic promotion from Durham and Northumberland One, despite failing to pick up a four-try bonus point in winning 17-9 at home to Durham City.

Morpeth drew level at the top by winning 53-0 at home to Stockton, but they still have to go to third-placed City, while Guisborough will expect to take maximum points from a relatively easy five-game run-in.

That includes matches against Blyth and Darlington, who are second and third bottom after Blyth won Saturday's clash 26-19. It meant Darlington slipped below Ryton, who won 28-24 at Novos.

Middlesbrough moved up one place to fifth in Yorkshire One, courtesy of a losing bonus point in a 13-7 defeat at Scarborough. The visitors led 7-3 at half-time and were beaten by a converted try two minutes from time.

Two tries by Lucas Summers helped Barnard Castle to a 32-22 home win against South Tyneside College in D & N Two. Josh Harper, man of the match Adam Haynes and Cammy Martin also touched down while Sam Errington added two conversions and a penalty.

Castle were leading 27-12 when ten minutes of madness saw them handed four yellow cards. But they held out and stretched their lead before the visitors scored two late tries.

*Darlington Mowden Park skipper Cameron Mitchell and Blaydon No 8 Gavin Jones played the full 80 minutes when the England Counties XV beat a Scotland Clubs XV 37-3 at |Fylde. Blaydon's Robbie Kalbraier and Keith Laughlin went on for the last 20 minutes.

The Counties play a French XV in Perigeux on March 20 and two games on a tour to Romania in early June.

Paul Hill and Jack Walker, the front row forwards who appeared for Mowden in early season on loan from Yorkshire Carnegie, both featured in England Under 20s' 19-14 win in Ireland on Saturday. Hill is to play for Northampton next season.