Darlington suffered further frustration on Saturday when Sandal pulled out of their visit to Blackwell Meadows for the second time.

The North Division One match should have been played in September and will now have to be rearranged again.

Sandal, who had already had four points deducted for failing to fulfil fixtures, will lose two more, leaving them on minus four.

The Wakefield-based club are clearly heading for their second successive relegation and there is a possibility they will not be able to complete their fixtures, in which case all their results would be erased from the table.

That would suit Darlington as they have not played Sandal home or away, while leaders Cleckheaton have played them once, enabling them to build a superior points difference.

Sandal had apparently spoken to league officials earlier in the week saying they might not be able to raise a front row and asking if the game could be played with uncontested scrums.

If this had happened, Darlington would have been given the two points for a win but the score would have been recorded as 0-0, which would not have been satisfactory as points difference could decide promotion.

There is some provision for an RFU committee to decide the score in such cases, but in the end Sandal rang at 10.30 on Saturday morning to say they had 13 players and only four were forwards.

Darlington expect to hear this week whether Cleckheaton are to lose two points for fielding an unregistered player, meanwhile their other main promotion rivals, Chester, lost 16-8 at Driffield.

West Hartlepool were out of luck in their attempts to complete a double against Aspatria, losing 20-17 away to the Cumbrians.

West dominated the first 20 minutes in the mud, but went 7-0 down before prop Carl Robinson was driven over for two tries, which David Tighe failed to convert.

Aspatria scored again and stretched their lead with a converted try early in the second half, but West came back with a try by Allan Milne, converted by Tighe to set up a tense final ten minutes.

Blaydon won 34-6 at home to struggling Broadstreet in National Three North, forging 29-6 ahead just after half-time before switching off.

They scored three very good tries through the backs, finished off by wingers Gerry Viguurs and Kevin McCallum and centre Nathan Ridd, all converted by fly half David Dalrymple.

Despite suffering from flu, Dalrymple was in excellent kicking form and added a penalty before half-time.

When the ball was worked up the blind side for No 8 Tom McLaren to score on the resumption a points spree looked likely, but the next 38 minutes were a non-event until lock James Houghton scored at the death.

In North Two East Horden moved into third place with a 52-17 home win against Goole, with fly half Andrew Turner scoring 22 points while young lock Michael Thubron was outstanding.

Playing against a strong wind, Horden led 19-12 at half-time following tries by Darren Greenlaw, Turner and Andrew Evans.

Scrum half Andy Raine scored twice in the first ten minutes of the second half, then Turner, Chris Purvis and Dave Grand touched down. Turner kicked six conversions.

Middlesbrough gave a much-improved display away to second-placed Sheffield, where the sin-binning of scrum half Peter Wright early in the second half cost them the chance of victory.

With the score at 14-14, Sheffield scored two tries in two minutes and as soon as Wright returned Boro applied pressure and he scored from broken play.

It remained 26-19 until the dying minutes, when Sheffield scored a converted try for a flattering 14-point margin.

Boro played with a lot of spirit in a match in which three others were yellow carded, including Boro lock Jason Malcolm.

Andy Micklewright fielded a poor clearance to race in from 25 metres after five minutes, but Sheffield's excellent line-out driving produced a try. Three penalties each completed the first half scoring, with Mark Foster on target for Boro.

Stockton lost 54-3 away to leaders Bradford and Bingley, but remain above Redcar, who crashed 43-10 at Morpeth.

It was 38-3 at half-time before Redcar rallied with a try by hooker Martyn Challenor, with Steve Bryce adding the conversion to his first half penalty.

Northern stretched their lead at the top of Durham and Northumberland Division One with a 33-3 win at home to Durham City, who were level at 3-3 but were then outplayed.

Northallerton, third from the bottom of Yorkshire Two, managed only a 7-7 draw at home to Heath, who are two places above them. A try by Nick Bainbridge converted by Jason Bingley gave Northallerton a 7-0 interval lead.