Darlington Mowden Park's good run ended with a 40-20 defeat at Bradford and Bingley, which saw them slip two places to sixth in National Three North.

South African lock Naude Pretorius did well in his first game back for Mowden and hooker Shaun Buckley defied his rib injury to enjoy a good first half before making way for Ross Batty.

After leapfrogging their hosts with a fourth successive win last week, Mowden looked capable of closing in on the promotion playoff place when they led 13-5 after 30 minutes. But in the next half hour they conceded a penalty and three soft tries, all converted, to trail 29-13.

There was no way back for Mowden, despite another all-action display from open side flanker Aaron Myers, while another Newcastle Academy man, Charlie Raynor, did well on his first start at full back.

Mowden dominated the opening ten minutes, only to fall behind to a try following a speculative kick. But they nosed ahead through penalties by Jon Benson and Raynor, who struck from halfway, then replacement winger Lawrence Oliver scored on the half hour and Benson converted.

Poor tackling saw the game turn, although Bradford's fourth try resulted from an attempted chip out of defence going straight into an opponent's hands.

Scrum half Andy Foreman gave Mowden hope with a converted try from a quickly-taken penalty on halfway. That reduced the gap to nine points with 18 minutes left, but Bradford scored a fifth try and added two more penalties.