BLAYDON felt they had been robbed of victory by an illegal tackle at Coventry on Saturday.

Centre Tom Grimes was left with concussion when he was taken out by a player coming from an off-side position when a three-man overlap seemed certain to bring a try.

An injury time try by former Tynedale winger Dan Rundle consigned Blaydon to a 19-17 defeat, which sent them back to the foot of National One courtesy of Macclesfield's 43-16 home win against Darlington Mowden Park.

Dual-registered Falcon Paddy Ryan and fellow prop Trevor Davison provided a solid platform for an impressive effort by the the Blaydon pack.

But big-spending Coventry scored two early tries against the run of play, the first coming from ex-Mowden lock Tom Jubb following a chargedown.

A storming 30-metre run by Andrew Archibald led to a try for fellow lock Chris Wearmouth and with Brett Connon adding the conversion and a penalty the gap was down to 14-10 at half-time.

Blaydon dominated the second half and went ahead when replacement hooker Cameron Bell ripped the ball from a defender to drive over, Connon again converting.

A chance to stretch the lead went begging after a 50-metre run by winger Kris Bratten and Coventry worked their way forward through ten phases to create Rundle's decisive try.

Mowden are also in danger of being drawn into the relegation scrap after four games without a point.

They again scored only one try, through winger Adam Radwan, when they were 31-9 down midway through the second half.

Having to bring in Santi Socino as a late replacement for Joe Craggs meant Mowden fielded only one English forward.

But the home pack drove over for three first half tries to lead 17-9, Caolan Ryan replying with three penalties.

A penalty try stretched Macclesfield's lead before scoring from long range following a turnover, putting them out of sight before Radwan scored.

Tynedale slumped to a disappointing 22-12 home defeat by Hinckley, who are below them in National Two North. Home winger Henry Hadfield opened the scoring, but the visiting pack took charge for a 22-5 half-time lead.

Replacement flanker Fin Magowan scored for Tynedale a minute from time.

Unbeaten West Hartlepool stretched their lead at the top of North One East to eight points when they won 14-10 at home to Durham City, while Alnwick lost 22-20 at Pocklington.

A try five minutes from time by winger Will Hilditch clinched West's win after an error-strewn performance in difficult conditions.

City centre Bradley Pears slipped a tackle to score the opening try, but after a lengthy build-up Gavin Painter slipped through for West and added the conversion.

Eldon Myers chased back to prevent a length-of-the-field interception try, but from the five-metre scrum City moved the ball out for winger Garry Izomor to take two defenders over with him.

With driving rain making handling difficult in the second half, there was no score until replacement Aaron Myers appeared in the centre and chipped through for Hilditch to touch down, Painter again converting.

Two late tries clinched a 30-19 win at Stockton for Durham and Northumberland One leaders Northern. The home pack battled well but their only try came from a line-out drive finished by Mrk Conway.

Steve Bartliff added the conversion and four penalties, but Stockton slipped back to second bottom as Gosforth won 17-12 against Middlesbrough at Kingston Park and Medicals' determination to overcome a ten-point deduction produced a 25-5 win at Hartlepool.

Gosforth were unable to use their council-owned pitch because of bonfire preparations and made their greater experience of artificial pitches count against Boro as they dominated the first half to lead 14-0.

Boro then got on top but made too many errors before winger Jay Ellis and centre Mike Thornburn scored. A Matthew Todd conversion made it 14-12 and they continued to press, only for Gosforth to break out and kick a late penalty.

Barnard Castle remain second after a 32-10 home win against Horden.