Darlington sealed a valuable win by playing the sort of rugby early in the second half which ought to see them challenging at the other end of National Three North.

There is now light ahead, but for it to shine more brightly they need to start better. Not only in matches, but in the season as a whole as in recent years they have regularly been slow out of the traps.

They were comfortably second best for the first 20 minutes on Saturday, but with conditions dictating that handling was difficult Dudley had nothing to show for their impressive efforts.

The visitors still had every chance when they trailed only 8-0 at half-time after facing the occasionally hostile elements, but Darlington hit top form for the next 25 minutes and led 23-0 before conceding a late try.

They jumped three places up the table and should consolidate that next week when they entertain bottom club Bedford Athletic while the three teams they overtook all have tough away games.

The future looks bright for Darlington as long as they hang on to players like young hooker Dan Oselton, who was outstanding, even if they were robbed of some line-out ball by bigger opponents.

They also struggled in the scrums early on against a Dudley side who have done some recruiting in their efforts to escape relegation and had won three of their previous four matches.

But any intention they had of coming out strongly for the second half was quickly knocked back as Darlington got their driving maul working.

They also defied the muddy conditions to produce some slick handling, particularly for the superb third try, finished off in style by a diving Del Lewis.

There were still 15 minutes to secure the fourth-try bonus point, but it proved elusive as David Kell was narrowly beaten to a touchdown then a maul was driven 20 metres only to break up in a scuffle just short of the line.

In the circumstances it seemed unlikely Darlington would have provoked it, but they were the ones penalised after a touch judge's intervention.

The early signs were ominous and full back David Glendenning did extremely well to thwart a Dudley attack.

As well as dominating in the tight, Dudley were very keen to use pacy left winger Ian Gowland as much as possible, but Darlington defended well with centre Neil Howe proving solid on his first league start.

They finally got a drive on from a line-out on the 22, then won a scrum and with Dudley off-side Kell landed a simple penalty after 22 minutes.

Dudley's sting had been drawn and when Glendenning burst into the line it looked as though he could reach the right corner.

He thought so too, neglecting to pass to the unmarked Frankie Coulson, only to be brought down just short.

It almost backfired as seconds later a visiting centre intercepted under his own posts and had a clear run.

But he was off-side so Darlington swiftly moved the ball right, Oselton drove on and the ball came back again for Howe to score.

Dudley came straight back and would have scored had Gowland gathered a kick ahead, but with the wind dropping Darlington took the game to their opponents after the break.

When Dudley did find a good touch they were repelled by a 20-metre drive from the line-out, then fly half Craig Lee found Kell with a quick pass and a chip ahead to the 22 ended with Dudley's left winger being spoken to.

With a name like Roman Piotrowski he should probably have been a film director and he spent the rest of the match in demented mode, trying to wind up Kell.

His initial indiscretion resulted in a penalty to touch and Lee joined the line-out drive to touch down. Kell converted then Darlington again drove 20 metres on the restart before releasing Coulson on a good run and when Dudley infringed under the posts Kell made it 18-0.

The best try came from a blind side move from a ruck on halfway, with Glendenning's quick pass putting Kell away. His inside pass found flanker Lewis 15 metres out and he wobbled out of a tackle to dive over in triumphant style.

Dudley's reply came when fly half Eddie Smith kicked ahead from halfway and won the race to the left corner. They were well beaten but had done enough to suggest they will be a real handful at home to Blaydon next week.

Result: Darlington 23 Dudley Kinswinford 5.