Blaydon 33 Darlington Mowden Park 6

MOWDEN Park's encouraging first season in National One suffered a disappointing finale, while three of the four Blaydon players making farewell appearances signed off in style.

The odd one out was Sean Brown, whose injury after 30 minutes allowed Zach Kibirige to make his long-awaited comeback and the Newcastle Falcons winger showed his class in an increasingly dominant second half.

Shortly after he went on Garry Law's second penalty gave Mowden a 6-5 lead, but although they had enjoyed a territorial advantage they never looked like scoring a try.

That they ended the game without one for the only time this season bore testimony to Blaydon's defence, although it also reflected how Mowden's sparkle has faded at the end of a long, hard season.

Having started the game one point ahead of Blaydon, they finished four behind in ninth place. But they would have settled for that at the start of the campaign, whereas their hosts might reflect that they ought to have done better.

Thanks to Micky Ward, they are a couple of years ahead of Mowden in developing powerful young props in Andrew Foster and Trevor Davison, and when they perform at their collective best the experienced men in the back five give them as strong a pack as any in the division.

With the Mowden hordes raising the crowd to almost 1,200, four times the usual Crow Trees gathering, the home side rose to the occasion while the visitors were a shadow of the team which peaked with a win against Coventry.

Mowden were again reminded that if they are to make a greater impact at this level they need more muscle.

As in the last two home games, their scrum gradually disintegrated, despite recalled lock Talite Vaioleti showing that he can still play an influential part if he stays injury-free next season.

Blaydon fly half Craig Willis impressed in his last appearance before joining Doncaster, while departing flanker Harry Bate was outstanding in signing off with two tries.

The other one bidding farewell, winger Tom Jeffery, atoned for two dropped passes by rampaging through the centre to score the fifth and final try from 60 metres.

It could have been worse for Mowden had Andrew Baggett not missed three easy kicks, although he did land two touchline conversions.

Although a lot of the penalties they conceded stemmed from their scrum difficulties, discipline is something Mowden will want to tighten up.

It would have been good to see hooker Charlie Maddison get through 60 or 70 minutes without injury or yellow card, but only two minutes had elapsed when he and home lock Chris Wearmouth were sin-binned following a fracas.

After exchanging pleasantries early on, Gareth Nesbit and Jason Smithson also earned yellow cards when they became embroiled in a private tussle midway through the second half.

Otherwise the match was played in a good spirit, with Blaydon gradually establishing forward supremacy to score two first half tries from line-outs for a 12-6 lead.

The three converted second half tries all came from open play and Mowden were left to reflect that mere survival at this level was a good achievement as their previous week's conquerors, Old Albanians, were relegated.

*Morpeth secured a swift return to North One East when they won their home play-off against Malton and Norton 14-11. It is likely to mean Middlesbrough being switched to Durham and Northumberland One.