STOCKTON ended their relegation worries in North Two East when an 18-16 win at Redcar took them above their hosts into sixth place.

Neither club was impressed by the fact that Middlesbrough had been allowed to delay rearranging their match against Northern because they had four players at Twickenham.

Both Redcar and Stockton were depleted, but took heed of a strongly-worded letter from the league secretary insisting that the vacant date must be used to fit in the previous week's postponed matches.

Even without skipper Alan Brown, who broke a finger in training, Stockton continued their impressive rise up the table after a disappointing first half of the season. They led 12-3 at half-time and stayed comfortably ahead as Jeremy Good added two penalties, both simplified by Redcar conceding an extra ten metres for backchat.

It needed a try at the death by Martyn Challenor for Redcar to get so close, with Gareth Foreman adding the conversion to his three penalties.

Stockton went ahead after 12 minutes when centres Matty Oates and Steve Thornton linked superbly for Oates to score, with Good converting.

Hooker Danny Muirhead slipped through three tackles and rolled over for the second try, with Good's penalties ensuring revenge for a 22-21 defeat in the home fixture.

With Boro opting to wait to play their home match against bottom club Northern, Morpeth went back above them into second place by winning 46-22 at Bridlington.

Hull maintained their 100 per cent record and clinched the automatic promotion spot with a 26-20 win at West Hartlepool, leaving Morpeth and Boro to battle it out for the play-off place. Any hope that Westoe had of challenging them ended with a 41-17 defeat at Sandal.

York are now favourites to accompany Northern in going down after losing 18-15 at Horden, whose slump had left them in danger of the drop.

Knowing they needed to win, York spurned the chance to level the scores with a penalty on the 22 in the fourth minute of injury time, opting to run it instead.

The Horden defence held out to reward the side for a lively second half performance, in which they overturned a 15-5 deficit.

The return of Andrew Turner after a career-threatening injury has been a big boost for Horden and he kicked two second half penalties, stroking the match-winner over from the ten-metre line in the 77th minute.

Horden went ahead after six minutes from a scrum on halfway, when Craig Gilmour fed scrum half Andy Raine, who raced to the 22 before sending Paul Bruce over in the corner.

Turner hit a post with the conversion attempt, and the game turned as York's left-winger Sam Arkle scored two tries.

Fly half Ben Quick added a conversion then kicked a penalty on the stroke of half-time following a ruck offence.

Knowing that defeat would leave them only one point above a relegation place, Horden were fired up for the second half and scored after a minute when a maul was collapsed and Turner landed the 30-metre penalty.

Midway through the half a York prop was sin-binned and shortly afterwards replacement Richie Thirkell picked up at the base of a scrum and fed Raine, who forced his way over.

Turner's conversion levelled the scores and after a period of good defence he punished York for falling offside.

Tynedale produced a brave effort before losing 18-13 to unbeaten Waterloo in one of only two games played in National Three North.

Leaders Halifax beat Kendal 54-13 and there is now a 14-point gap between the top two and third-placed Darlington Mowden Park.

Despite dominating with the wind behind them in the first half at Tynedale, Waterloo led only 8-7 after home winger Guy Beaumont intercepted a floated pass and ran the length of the field to score under the posts. Phil Belgian converted and ten minutes after the interval he landed a penalty to put Tynedale ahead.

Good handling allowed Waterloo to regain the lead with a try after 64 minutes, but Belgian's second penalty levelled the scores, only for Waterloo to score again with ten minutes left.

* Holders Mowden Park will be at home to the winners of the Westoe v Darlington tie in the semi-final of the Durham Cup if they win their delayed match at Stockton.

With the first round thrown into chaos, the county committee have taken steps to move things along by making a semi-final draw. The other tie will be Blaydon or Hartlepool Rovers v West Hartlepool or Horden.

The next free day for National Three North clubs is March 27, but Mowden have arranged to visit Liverpool St Helens that day.

The semi-final draw for the Durham Intermediate Cup is: Hartlepool or Billingham v Gateshead or Consett, Durham City or Hartlepool TDSOB v Houghton or Ryton.