WHILE Darlington Mowden Park cruised to a 58-5 home win against lowly Whitchurch in National Division Three North, Blaydon almost brought off a shock victory away to leaders Doncaster.

They were winning 15-11 with two minutes of normal time left when the ball bounced kindly for ace poacher Derek Eves to touch down.

The former Bristol flanker, who scored twice at Mowden, put Doncaster back in front from scrappy line-out possession after John Liley gathered a loose ball in his own 22 and found touch three metres from Blaydon's line.

The former England full back again kicked clear in injury time after an ambitious penalty attempt into the wind by James Lofthouse fell short. This time Liley missed touch and, knowing time was up if the ball went dead, Blaydon moved the ball across the field four times before a Doncaster centre intercepted on halfway to score under the posts, giving them a flattering 23-15 margin.

Coming back from an early 8-0 deficit in front of a big crowd, the performance gave Blaydon heart as they try to rearrange their league and county cup double-header at home to Mowden within the next few weeks.

With the tackles starting to go in, they gave as good as they got in the second quarter and were on top in the third.

Winger Paul Alexander raced over from 60 metres, then they turned over possession on their own 22 and back row men Andy Wright and Drikus Kotze inter-passed with winger Iain Dixon, who scored under the posts.

Lofthouse added the conversion to his earlier penalty and Blaydon looked like hanging on until Liley's kick pinned them back.

West Hartlepool also threatened a surprise win when they led 17-16 at home to fifth-placed Scunthorpe at half-time. But they lost 35-22 with a line-up which included Yarm School coach Stuart Whitehead, normally a hooker, on the wing.

He scored one of the four tries after good work by New Zealanders Jamie Connolly and Brett Cullinane, who also combined for Cullinane to score the first.

Connolly converted that one and when flanker Henry Tones scored right on half-time West had their interval lead.

But by the time Tones drove over again in the 62nd minute Scunthorpe's pressure had brought two tries, and they scored again in the fourth minute of injury time.

West played with a lot of heart and will hope to take something from two more home games in the next two weeks, against Blaydon and Whitchurch.

Shropshire club Whitchurch were no match for Mowden Park, for whom half backs Richard Woollam and Jonny Golightly scored two tries each.

With the wind behind them, Mowden ran up a 41-0 lead at half-time.They looked very solid up front and played with more control than in losing four of their previous six games.

Tim Wilks had an excellent game at open side and hooker Tasi Tuhana was back on song after a disagreement saw him miss the game at New Brighton.

Mowden began with a penalty by Mark Bedworth, who also converted five of the nine tries, then Darren McKinnon went left off a scrum and sent Kevin McCallum on a 35-metre run. When Whitchurch killed the ball, Woollam took a quick penalty to dart over.

Winger Chris Mattison followed up a long kick by Golightly to set up a ruck and quick recycling allowed Bedworth to offload in the tackle for McCallum to score.

Mattison finished well to score in the corner after a break by Mick Kent, then Wilks almost got to the posts and Woollam followed up to dive over.

Good driving by the forwards, with prop James Isaacson prominent, set up Golightly's first try, then from a penalty on halfway McKinnon linked with Tuhana, whose sleight of hand set up a try for winger Steve Jones.

The game went flat after half-time but after 60 minutes Golightly dummied over for his second try then Mowden sent on their replacements and Whitchurch enjoyed ten minutes of pressure and scored a good try.

Mowden took a quick penalty for McCallum to set up Bedworth, then Tuhana cleaned up at a line-out and found flanker Tony Irwin, who galloped over.

Middlesbrough conceded a late try to lose 17-13 at home to Driffield in North One. Boro were disrupted by an early injury to skipper Richard McRae and had flanker Steve Wallis sin-binned late in the game, when they were unhappy about having a string of penalties awarded against them.

Stockton severely dented Redcar's promotion hopes in North Two East when they avenged a 12-10 home defeat with a 6-5 away win.

The absence of goal-kicker Dave Turner proved costly for Stockton in the previous encounter, but this time he slotted two penalties for a 6-0 half-time lead.

Stockton were under a lot of pressure in the second half, but Redcar missed two penalties and it was into injury time before lock Karl Leach scored a try.

Northallerton produced a workmanlike performance to win 26-3 at home to York RI in Yorkshire Two after trailing 3-0 for much of the first half.

Two penalties by Ed Bulman put them in front and he added a third while also converting tries by Matt Bell and Steve Robinson.

Horden remain top of Durham and Northumberland Division One after a 19-12 home win against early leaders Percy Park, who are now third equal with Durham City.

City came back from 11-0 down at half-time against Hartlepool Rovers to clinch a 13-11 home win thanks to a late touchline conversion by Nick Howe.

He also kicked two penalties, while the try was scored by winger Toru Higuchi. Flanker Clive Potts scored for Rovers after Phil Hall kicked two penalties