Lowly West cash in with second win of season

They won 14-12 at home to Whitchurch and some of the players will be collecting from Joyce, who had offered 6-1 against them winning another game in National Division Three North.

But the narrow margin of victory against modest opposition suggests it will still be difficult to avoid relegation as West now have a run of tough matches, starting with a trip to Dudley Kingswinford.

With the strong wind behind them, Whitchurch led only 12-7 at half-time and a second converted try put West ahead after 47 minutes.

Making better use of the elements than their Shropshire visitors, they were able to hang on for a hard-earned win.

Scrum half Dave Tighe scored their first half try under the posts, with James Masshedar converting, and he was also on target after No 8 Tim Sawyer burst through to score.

After the revival of the last two weeks, Darlington Mowden Park gave a lifeless display at home to New Brighton and suffered their biggest home defeat for years.

After beating Whitchurch 58-5 and drawing away to second-placed Dudley, Mowden must have expected a comfortable win against New Brighton. But they lost 39-19 and slipped below their visitors into fifth place.

In truth, there wasn't much between the sides. But the New Brighton forwards started with much more purpose to go 12-0 ahead and every time Mowden threatened to get back into the game they gave away a soft try.

They finally lost heart and conceded three tries in the last ten minutes.

Mowden looked likely winners when they reduced a 17-5 half-time deficit with a converted try from a line-out drive. But two crucial incidents then went against them and the momentum was gone.

First hooker Tasi Tuhana burst off a maul near his own 22 only to be harshly penalised for coming in from an off-side position. Mowden had to concede a further ten metres when he disputed the decision, then visiting fly half Riaz Fredericks skipped through non-existent tackling to score by the posts.

Mowden also failed to grab a golden opportunity a few minutes later when they ran a penalty under the posts and Kevan Oliphant's lobbed pass landed at the feet of Mark Bedworth, who knocked on with the line at his mercy.

Two of New Brighton's three first half tries came from line-out drives, Mowden replying when Kevin McCallum made a break to send winger Chris Mattison over.

Mowden sent on James Isaacson, the prop on loan from Newcastle, for the second half and his battering round the fringes had an early impact, but it didn't last.

When things turned against Mowden, visiting full back Paul Brett kicked a penalty then speedy left winger James Moore followed up a kick from halfway to score and put New Brighton out of sight at 32-12.

Oliphant converted his own try for Mowden, but when he tried to run out of defence in injury time the ball went loose and opposing centre Marcus Coast kicked on to complete his hat-trick.

Blaydon produced a purple patch with four tries in 14 minutes either side of half-time in a 25-15 win at home to Scunthorpe, moving above their visitors into sixth place.

They were 10-3 down when they started to produce their best rugby of the season just before the interval, moving the ball along the line for Iain Dixon to score.

Then Dave Guthrie charged up the middle with Jason Oakes in support and the move was finished off by winger James O'Malley.

The forwards supported a break by fly half Nick Gandy for lock James Houghton to touch down his first try of the season, then O'Malley scored again.

With centre Morne Marais playing his last game, Blaydon took him off and switched Dixon to centre, where he is likely to play next week.

Darlington's North Division One match at Bradford and Bingley was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch, meaning Darlington have played once in six weeks. They have a three-match backlog in the league as well as their county cup tie at Stockton to fit in.

Middlesbrough did them a slight favour by drawing at Macclesfield, one of the teams vying with Darlington for the promotion play-off place.

Boro moved back in front of Bradford into third from bottom place with a much-improved display, new fly half Andy Dean kicking the equalising penalty in the dying minutes.

Things looked ominous when Boro, playing with the wind, trailed 7-0 after 30 minutes.

Then they drove on for flanker Ben Pattinson to score and from the restart after half-time the ball went to winger Wes Henry, who weaved through the opposition from halfway to put Boro 10-7 ahead.

Macclesfield came back with a try and a penalty but with 15 minutes left Boro sent on Mark O'Halloran for John Dixon and he immediately scored from a short penalty. An exchange of penalties completed the scoring.

Stockton continued their improvement in North Two East with a 23-3 win at home to Goole, despite an early blow when lock Mark Skirving was added to their lengthy casualty list.

He went off with a suspected broken ankle and newcomer Steve Craven went on for an impressive debut.

Dave Turner kicked a 25th minute penalty then put in 70-metre clearance after a period of Goole pressure and added a second penalty.

Just before half-time good work by Steve Thornton and Joe Green, driving on and keeping the ball alive, gave flanker Phil Austen the chance to muscle over by the posts, Turner converting for a 13-0 lead.

Playing into the wind, Stockton kept it tight and good forward driving brought further tries from scrum half Joff Staples and hooker Danny Muirhead.

Stockton are now fifth, one place below Redcar, who lost 20-10 at Cleckheaton, while Westoe drew 11-11 at Alnwick.

Redcar trailed 15-0 at half-time, one of the tries coming from former British Lion John Bentley. They hit back through a try by flanker Nathan Fahey, with Steve Bryce adding the conversion and a penalty.

But Cleckheaton's third try sealed it and effectively ended Redcar's promotion hopes.

Horden stayed top of Durham and Northumberland One when they came back from 10-8 down at half-time at Gosforth to win 28-20.

Northallerton continued their climb away from trouble in Yorkshire Two with a 15-6 win at Castleford.

They scored tries through Hamilton and Read while Ed Bulman added a conversion and a penalty

Read more about Hartlepool FC here.