Darlington Mowden Park 17

Rosslyn Park 10

MOWDEN march on. An eighth successive win took them up two places to sixth in National One and it was more comfortable than the score suggests.

The only doubt in the second half was whether Mowden would secure the four-try bonus and with five minutes left that looked far more likely than a losing point for the visitors.

But after Mowden got over the line without being able to ground the ball Rosslyn Park managed to break out and were awarded a penalty try at the death.

It flattered them because otherwise they never looked like crossing the line and were thoroughly outplayed.

The penalty try came from a scrum, which was a mess throughout with the referee awarding penalties first one way then the other.

The slippery surface might have contributed, but the irony of it being perfectly playable would not be lost on the previous occupiers of The Northern Echo Arena.

There may even have been a few football fans starved of action in the crowd of 1,111 and Mowden did their best to entertain.

In fact, there were times when they over-elaborated, given the conditions, instead of settling for building the phases.

Two of the three tries came from catch-and-drives finished by lock Rob Conqeust, who bagged a brace for the second successive week and was named man of the match.

Another contender was flanker Ali Bone, who was especially impressive under the high ball. He made way for Simon Uzokwe with 30 minutes left but went back on when Uzokwe switched to hooker.

Rosslyn Park should have been buried once they briefly went down to 13 men through their second and third yellow cards late in the game.

The first two were for deliberate knock-ons, which halted promising moves and provided some reward for Mowden's enterprise.

The visitors missed an early penalty from wide on the right, but Mowden gradually got on top and after 15 minutes drove a line-out 15 metres almost to the line.

Winger Peter Homan got over but was unable to ground the ball just before a penalty to the corner set up Conquest's first try.

It became 12-0 after 30 minutes when Garry Law converted from the left touchline after scrum half Bruno Bravo finished multiple phases with a sniping 15-metre run down the blind side of a ruck.

It immediately became 12-3 when centre Chris Auld tried to run out the restart and was penalised when tackled, The visitors' lack of attacking nous was underlined when, with half-time beckoning, they kicked the ball dead.

But Law repeated the error on the resumption and at the resulting scrum on halfway Mowden went backwards and were penalised. The 45-metre kick came back off the bar and Mowden capitalised on the reprieve by reasserting their authority.

Winger Jake Henry followed a burst up the touchline with an inside pass which might have brought a try but for a deliberate knock-on. The penalty to the corner resulted in Conquest's second try for a 17-3 lead.

With victory secure, Mowden took off influential skipper Gareth Nesbit and would be disappointed not to stretch their advantage.

But victory was sweet after three previous National One meetings with Rosslyn Park had ended in defeat. Mowden, however, will want to step up on this performance for this week's visit of second-placed Blackheath.