Darlington emerged from a bloody battle with Aspatria as champions of North Division One after a 35-17 win.

With one game left they have secured automatic promotion to join neighbours Mowden Park in National Three North.

Between them they have put the town firmly on the rugby map and it's a remarkable achievement considering that nine years ago both clubs were in Durham and Northumberland Division One.

Aspatria did their best to unsettle their visitors and coach Phil Lancaster said: "I told the lads that to clinch promotion in that sort of game was all the more special because they had to work for it.

"Aspatria did not roll over. It was not a bad-tempered game, but it was full-blooded and not for the faint-hearted. We managed to keep control and kept our cool."

Although they had a few drinks, Darlington are saving the main celebration until after the final match at Birkenhead Park with Lancaster saying: "We set ourselves the target of winning the last eight games and we still want to do that.

"Over the last few seasons we have always built up to a crescendo at this time of year when the conditions suit our style.

"We know that going into the national leagues is a bit of a step-up in terms of the physical nature of the game over a season. But we did well against New Brighton in the cup this season and have beaten Mowden and Blaydon in recent years. So there are no demons there for us."

Paul Lee and Mark Butler both finished the game with head stitches and by half-time two Aspatria players had been to the sin bin for punching.

Aspatria had much of the early possession and took a 7-0 lead. Darlington's usual line-out dominance did not materialise and when a tremendous burst by Rob Stewart ended with a penalty being kicked to the corner the ball was lost.

Aspatria cleared downwind and when Darlington did win a line-out just inside halfway the forwards rolled on to within ten metres. The ball was then moved left and switched right for Dan Miller to make the line.

With Darlington starting to dominate, Aspatria started fighting. A centre was yellow carded for punching Stewart after a quick break, then the full back was also sin-binned for blatantly punching his opposite number Kieron Thompson.

Facing only 13 opponents, Darlington ran a very kickable penalty and Dan and Joe Oselton took the ball over the line without being able to ground it. From the five-metre scrum No 8 Bryan Dixon peeled off to score.

An Aspatria penalty made it 10-10 after 39 minutes, but Darlington scored a converted try before half-time when they drove a maul to the line for Craig Lee to touch down.

Aspatria almost scored straight after the break, and Darlington had cause for concern when flanker Martin Howe was yellow carded. But while he was off Thompson landed a penalty to stretch the lead to ten points.

The Darlington forwards were now dominating and an attempted clearance by Aspatria was caught by Craig Lee, who set up a ruck and was there again to burst through and score.

A converted try by Aspatria made it 25-17 with 15 minutes to go. But Darlington made sure with Dixon scoring from a five-metre scrum and Howe getting the touchdown following a 15-metre line-out drive.

Mowden moved above Tynedale into fifth place in National Three North with a 38-19 home win against Liverpool St Helens.

Iain Dixon did well at fly half in Mark Bedworth's absence and scored the vital try which sparked a strong finish.

An early 19-0 lead had been wiped out when Dixon broke in midfield then shrugged off two tackles and accelerated outside the full back to reach the line.

Dixon also took over the kicking and converted four of the six tries.

He had a hand in the first as he held the ball up well and flipped it to centre Chris Strong, who burst through two tackles to go under the posts.

Jonno Wilson, who had moved from centre to full back, caught his own chip ahead and accelerated away to score in the corner.

Despite pressure from the visiting front row, Mowden were enjoying a purple patch and Wilson broke again before sending flanker Vaha Faleovalu in for a try.

Liverpool then began to make their forward power count and their driving mauls led to tries for both wingers to make it 19-12 at half-time.

Prop Jan Laurens finished off a rolling maul on the resumption and the conversion levelled the scores.

But then came Dixon's try and with ten minutes left scrum half Richard Holbrough put in a chip which bounced kindly for replacement winger Matt Howland to score.

Finally skipper and No 8 Aaron Redaelli picked up from a scrum near halfway, broke two tackles to reach the 22 and gave a scoring pass to Holbrough.

Blaydon conceded a try in the fourth minute of injury time to suffer an agonising 38-37 defeat at home to Halifax.

Bedford Athletic's defeat by Waterloo means Blaydon cannot finish in the bottom four, but if five go down they still need another win.

They looked safe when No 8 Tom McLaren scored his third try three minutes after half-time to give them a 37-19 lead.

But they paid for the lack of a goal-kicker as Sean Hannah landed only one of seven conversions, missing two from near the posts.

Even without skipper Dave Guthrie, Blaydon's pack were superb but they were forced to play flanker Gavin Stainsby on the wing and were always struggling to contain the Halifax backs.

Blaydon hung on at 37-33 for 21 minutes before the visiting full back came into the line and created the overlap for the winning try.

The Blaydon backs did have their moments, with Chris Nunn scoring a 50-metre interception try and fly half Nick Gandy racing away from well inside his own half. But they will be looking to shore up their defence before visiting Tynedale on Saturday.