BLAYDON blew a 17-0 interval lead to emerge with a 17-17 draw and stay two points ahead of hosts Hull Ionians in the National One relegation battle.

The home fly half dummied under the posts in the last minute and his conversion levelled the scores, but Blaydon had cause to be grateful that he had missed four previous kicks.

One penalty hit a post as Ionians dominated early on, but when Blaydon began to apply pressure a quickly-taken penalty allowed winger Dan Marshall to weave his way over.

Brett Connon converted then added a penalty and was again on target after a period of pressure was rewarded when scrum half Nathan Horsfall burrowed over.

Hull scored early in the second half, but Blaydon got back on top with Trevor Davison, Keith Laughlin and Jason Smithson prominent up front.

They were still looking comfortable with 12 minutes left before two substitutions exposed their lack of experience on the bench and Hull scored two more tries.

Darlington Mowden Park also conceded a late try to lose 26-21 at Blackheath after fighting back from 21-0 down at half-time.

It promised to be a repeat of the comeback at Moseley when winger Adam Radwan scored Mowden's third try, all converted by Garry Law, to level the scores.

But Blackheath applied pressure from the restart and a flanker found a gap to score their bonus point try. Mowden's other tries came from Law and Simon Uzokwe.

A yellow card early in the second half galvanised Tynedale when they trailed 5-3 at home to National Two North strugglers Scunthorpe.

They scored through Will Miller and Scott Powell while a man down, then Rob Parker and Graeme Dunn also crossed for a 25-10 win.

A late penalty consigned Billingham to a 13-12 defeat at home to second-placed Rossendale in Three North. Danny Dixon and Martin Hopley scored for Billingham.

West Hartlepool slipped to third in North One East when they lost 22-5 at home to Alnwick, but will move back above Penrith if they win their game in hand at Durham City this week.

City slipped deeper into trouble when they lost 31-14 at Huddersfield YMCA while the team just above them, Dinnington, won at Bradford and Bingley.

Hartlepool's attempt to stay in touch with neighbours Rovers in the fight to avoid relegation in Durham and Northumberland One ran out of steam at home to Middlesbrough.

They scored three tries through forward pressure, but after trailing 18-17 Boro pulled away through their backs in the last 20 minutes to win 38-18.

Good handling allowed winger Sean Moloney to score two first half tries for Boro and centre Peter Homan kick-started the surge to victory before Charlie Bircham and Stephen Hughes-Narborough also scored. Skipper Matthew Todd converted all five tries.

Stockton won 20-15 at home to Novos, with Joe Green among the scorers as he combined well with back row colleagues Phil Douglas and Martin Dixon in his first senior game for a year.

Prop Rhys McHugh crashed over from close range, then full back Dan Phinn ghosted through a gap to touch down and Jonny Horner added the extras.

A Novos penalty made it 12-3 at the break, then Green burrowed over from close range and a penalty stretched the lead. But a yellow card and an injury to fly half Rhys Cowley disrupted Stockton and Novos fought back. A converted try in the last minute earned them a bonus point.

Horden won 28-22 at injury-ravaged Gateshead, for whom winger Matty Banning scored twice and young debutant Joe Johnson once.

Full back Scott Cartner added the goal points, but Horden fly half Conor Jones's three penalties made the difference. He added two conversions as Horden were awarded a penalty try before prop Daniel Groves and scrum half Luke Watson touched down.