Darlington'S most experienced campaigner, No 8 Bryan Dixon, was more concerned about the approach of West Hartlepool than about the referee after becoming the first of two players to be sent off in Saturday's North Division One derby.

West lock Andrew Davies was dismissed for the second successive week for a clear case of punching, but Dixon looked unlucky to receive his second yellow card from Durham Society referee Revis Phillips after 29 minutes.

"He said it was for deliberate off-side," said a distraught Dixon, who was trying to shrug off West's attempts to exact their own retribution.

"I admit I've been sent off a few times when I've deserved it, but decisions like that can end people's careers, which is the way I feel at the moment."

But Dixon's disillusionment had more to do with West's niggly tactics as they quickly abandoned their bright start and concentrated on unsettling the much more creative Darlington side.

"They were taking cheap shots," said Dixon. "It's very sad that they have come to that."

West also had three players yellow carded in flankers Henry Tones and Tim Sawyer, plus full back Peter Hodgson and it seemed to sum up their approach when they sent on veteran Mark Baggs after Davies's 59th minute exit.

Baggs was in the thick of a couple of scuffles and the match ended with diminutive scrum half Darren Thomas ludicrously squaring up to home prop Joe Osleton as Mark Butler was scoring Darlington's sixth try.

As they head for their fifth successive relegation, West will evoke no sympathy playing like this and it did nothing for the town's rugby reputation following the previous week's abandonment at TDSOB after one of their players attacked the referee.

Following their first win in North One the previous week, West were 17-0 down when Dixon was dismissed and although they were still under pressure, except in the scrums, they conceded only a penalty until the 55th minute.

It was then that a mistake by winger Tommy Barff sparked a run of four converted tries as he hacked at a chip ahead by Paul Lee and sliced it straight to Martin Howe.

The outstanding flanker looked as though he might cover the 40 metres to the line himself, but passed inside to the equally impressive Lee, who sent his brother, Craig, under the posts.

Inbetween all the niggle, Darlington played some fluent rugby with forwards involved as much as backs and young hooker Dan Osleton particularly caught the eye.

An injury to Rob Stewart allowed David Andrew to play his first competitive senior game for over a year at scrum half and he scored two tries.

Howe scored the first then flipped the ball up from a scrum for Andrew to glide through an inviting gap to score near the posts.

Kieron Thompson added his second conversion to an early penalty, but then had two misses before succeeding with a simple chance after 47 minutes.

The came Craig Lee's try and he scored another when he burst on to a short pass from fellow centre Dave Haswell.

Howe and Paul Lee were both involved in the last two tries in the final three minutes.

Andrew finished the first from close range and Butler, who had replaced Haswell, raced 40 metres down the middle for the grand finale. Thompson converted all six tries.

Result: Darlington 48 West Hartlepool 0.