Durham City missed the opportunity to close the gap on West as they slipped to a 27-10 defeat at Driffield.
League leaders West lost at Aspatria, but Durham were unable to take advantage as they slipped to only their second league defeat of the season in east Yorkshire.
Winger Chris McClarron crossed twice to hand Driffield a ten-point lead within the opening 20 minutes, and skipper Richard Anderson scored the first of his hat-trick of tries to make it 17-0 shortly after.
Durham rallied in the second half, with Richard Curry bagging a brace of catch-and-drive tries from close range, but Anderson's final two scores killed off any hopes of a comeback.
"We can have no complaints,"
said Durham committee member Tony Howe. "Driffield were the better team and we got what we deserved.
"It's doubly annoying because with West Hartlepool losing, we could have gone within two points of the top of the league. I bet they were laughing their caps off at West when they found out we'd lost."
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