DARLINGTON Mowden Park begin the second half of their season hoping to pull well clear of danger by completing a National One double over Blaydon tomorrow.

Mowden needed a strong finish to win the home clash in September and again showed their ability to mount a late fightback last Saturday.

They came back from 17-6 down to snatch a 20-20 draw with the last kick of the home match against Coventry.

Josh Bragman, the fourth fly half they have used in this injury-ravaged campaign, held his nerve in total silence from the crowd of 948 to land the conversion from wide on the left.

The Hartlepool-born player was signed in the summer after impressing for Durham County, but has had to wait his turn in the No 10 shirt.

The vacancy arose when Caolan Ryan was signed by Rotherham and hooker Santiago Socino followed him to the Championship club last week.

Mowden also lost three forwards – Rob Conquest, Tom Jubb and Ali Bone – to Coventry at the end of last season and the fact that none was in Saturday's side suggested the big-spending visitors should be too strong.

They proved rather inept, however, once their early attempts at fluency had failed to break down the defence and it took two Mowden errors to break the dour stalemate.

The home side led 6-3 with 23 minutes left, but conceded two tries in quick succession, the first resulting from a penalty and the second from an over-ambitious pass going to ground.

The 17-6 deficit galvanised Mowden and they made Coventry pay for their continual blunders.

Twice Mowden laid siege to the line before forcing their way over, but in between Coventry kicked the penalty which ensured they wouldn't lose.

Mowden's spirited response first produced a try for replacement centre James Fitzpatrick, who continues to make an impact off the bench.

As one of his former clubs, Blaydon will be wary of him tomorrow, especially as their defence continues to be found wanting towards the end of games.

They are nine points behind Mowden in second bottom place and see this as their last chance to kick-start a survival bid.

Barnard Castle were without a game in Durham and Northumberland One, slipping eight points behind leaders Westoe, but with two games in hand.

The division's two form teams, Stockton and Gosforth, met at Grangefield and Stockton's indiscipline proved their downfall as they had No 8 Martin Dixon sent off after 16 minutes on the way to a 17-16 defeat.

Even though two yellow cards had them down to 12 men at one stage, Stockton led 16-7 through a converted try by prop Rhys McHugh and three Steve Bartliff penalties.

But the defensive duties took their toll and Gosforth scored a converted try with five minutes left, then added a drop goal.

Middlesbrough slipped further behind Horden, who are one place above them in fourth, when they lost 29-15 at the Peterlee ground.

With both Tremlett brothers among several absentees, Boro's lack of depth was exposed, if not their spirit.

Tries by Ben Wood and Sean Moloney, plus a Matthew Todd penalty and conversion, had the gap down to 17-15 shortly after half-time, but Horden went on to collect the four-try bonus.

Darlington remain in mid-table in Durham and Northumberland Two after a 48-3 home win against bottom club Blyth.

Northallerton travelled to Goole with renewed confidence following the previous week's win over Wensleydale, but were brought back to earth by a 41-14 defeat.

Everything went wrong, including some players arriving late due to a traffic jam, leaving no time to warm up or organise themselves effectively.

Goole took advantage of North's disarray, running in four tries in the opening 30 minutes. North gradually got into the game and were unfortunate not to score just before half-time. They were twice judged to have been held up over the line.

They made a much brighter start in the second half and dominated possession, with Joe Oselton and Paul Dixon leading the way.

Ten minutes into the half, Jedd Bainbridge picked up from the base of a ruck and darted through a gap to touch down by the posts. He added the conversion and was again on target 10 minutes later after a 15-yard rolling maul was finished by Simon Manthorpe.

But North then started to throw possession away, allowing Goole to punish them by moving the ball wide.

Injuries to Bainbridge, Xander Metcalfe and Giles Drew forced forward substitutes to fill the vacancies in the backs and Goole took complete control.

They ran in three more tries and could have had more but for some last-ditch tackling, especially from Jonny Frank and James Hopkins.

North entertain Baildon tomorrow, while the seconds hope to resume at Guisborough after being let down first by Thirsk then Middlesbrough last week. After agreeing to fill the breach, Boro pulled out at 12.30pm on Saturday.