DARLINGTON Mowden Park should consolidate their top half place in National One when they entertain struggling Tynedale tomorrow.

Mowden are eighth after one of their best victories of the season last Saturday, when they won 33-10 away to fifth-placed Fylde, who were the last team Tynedale beat in early November.

They have lost 12 successive games since following their 50-point trouncing at home to Mowden by beating Fylde 9-8 when they had a few reinforcements from Newcastle Falcons.

They had 21-stone prop Mark Irving back from the Falcons last week and will hope to call on him again tomorrow as they know they need to win half of their remaining games if they are to avoid their first relegation since the advent of league rugby.

Incredibly, Tynedale won five of their first six games before injuries exposed their lack of depth. They have had to include 18-year-old Brett Connon, who could be in opposition to his brother Grant tomorrow.

The third of the three brothers from Cumbria, Max, started the season as Mowden's scrum half but has only recently made his comeback in the second team after injury.

Mowden fell behind to a try after three minutes at Fylde and conceded another in trailing 10-8 at the interval. But they hit top form as they dominated the second half with 25 unanswered points.

In winning five of their last six games they have benefited from fielding a settled side, although their desire to find starting opportunities for hooker Charlie Maddison again saw him fail to stay on the field.

He has been prone to yellow cards and injuries and it was while he was in the sin-bin after a minor fracas that Fylde scored their second try.

Grant Connon kicked a good penalty just before the interval and added two early in the second half as Mowden began to forge ahead.

With the forwards moving up a gear to take control, flanker Joe Maud finished a catch-and-drive then full back Henry Robinson's scorching pace earned his second try.

Connon scored the bonus point try, adding his second conversion for a personal tally of 18 points.

Darlington face a tough game at Durham City tomorrow and remain uncomfortably close to third bottom spot in Durham and Northumberland One after losing 22-21 at home to Gosforth.

An early 8-0 lead became a 17-8 deficit before they kicked two penalties just before half-time. It stayed tight in an end-to-end second half, although Gosforth came closest to scoring in the tense finish when a penalty hit an upright.

Stockton went down to a last-minute penalty at Hartlepool Rovers, who won 16-13 after trailing 13-5 until visiting flanker Joe Green received his second yellow card. Joel Simpson scored Stockton's try and Jeremy Good added three penalties.

Middlesbrough's recent woes continued when a 15-3 defeat away to lowly Old Brodleians saw them slip to sixth in Yorkshire One.

Late cry-offs forced Boro to draft in Myles Colvin and Matty Ivin, who was making his debut in a young pack who were out-muscled on a poor pitch.

Despite playing down the considerable slope in the first half, they were pinned back and trailed 3-0. It was an uphill struggle after the interval.

Northallerton's first team got back to winning ways in a hard-earned 25-24 victory away at Burley.

Burley away has often been a stumbling block for Northallerton, so they knew beforehand they were in for a tough encounter. The task was made even harder with the late withdrawal of a couple of Northallerton players, leaving only two substitutes, both being forwards.

Throughout the game neither team were particularly dominant for long periods, with scores being swapped regularly throughout the game.

North started the slightly stronger team and were rewarded within five minutes by a try from Dougie Mullholland which owed a lot to strong forward work. The conversion from Mullholland inexplicably drifted wide to leave North five points up.

Burley then came back upfield and were awarded with an easy penalty due to a North player not releasing the ball after a tackle. Again the advantage swung Norths way with Paul Dixon scoring his trademark one-yard flop over the line from the back of a rolling maul. Jedd Bainbridge took over kicking duties to score the conversion from out wide to give North a 12-3 lead.

Northallerton continued to build up the pressure in the home teams 22, but some courageous defending by Burley kept North out. Five minutes from half time the Burley full back intercepted a loose pass from Norths fly half inside the a Burley half and raced up the field to score a converted try.

Just after half time North suffered a crucial injury to centre Oliver Watts, meaning a reshuffle of players and Jedd Bainbridge's father, the recently turned 53 year old Nicholas, coming into the pack. Due to these changes it took North a while to show any proper cohesion and organisation. Burley took advantage of this and ran through four or five missed tackles to score another converted try and take a 17-12 lead.

The game then ebbed and flowed from end to end, before scrum-half Patrick Hebblethwaite sneaked from the base of a rolling maul to score in the corner. With the game even after 65 minutes, North took the opportunity for a three-point advantage from the boot of Jedd Bainbridge. Ten minutes after that North looked to have sealed the game with an eight point lead thanks to opportunistic try from winger Simon Manthorpe out wide.

Burley, though, had other ideas, and urged on by their boisterous supporters, continued to look dangerous. As the referee indicated it was the final play, the Burley winger broke clear and looked sure to score before Bainbridge Jnr produced an excellent tackle. Unfortunately though, the tackle was in vain as Burley support was first to the ball to score under the posts for a losing bonus point. Man of the match was awarded to Rob Barnard who moved from number 8 to outside centre and put in some crunching tackles.

Tomorrow, Northallerton first team are at home to Bramley Phoenix in the quarter finals of the Silver Trophy, with a 2.15pm kick-off.

Northallerton's second team fell to a disappointing 19-50 defeat at home to Billingham. North's points came from Gary Appleyard, Dave Travis, Graham 'Trigger' Johnson and David Hogg with two conversions.

Tomorrow, Northallerton seconds are awaiting fixture confirmation.