Darlington Mowden Park 14 Blackheath 12

TWO wins and a narrow defeat from three successive games against National One's leading trio prove Mowden's right to a top four spot.

They remain seventh, but have the chance to overhaul this week's visitors, Plymouth, if they regain the free-scoring form which has been halted by the mean defences of Richmond and Blackheath.

Mowden's own defence was excellent in a tense encounter which, as in the previous home game against Hartpury, was decided by the superior goal-kicking of Warren Seals.

He had only two shots at goal, but nailed both conversions from wide out, while the division's leading points scorer, Freddie Gabbitas, missed a conversion and penalty he would normally expect to kick.

A scoreless second half is rare indeed in a Mowden match, but after hanging on well they were the side threatening to score at the death.

Awarded a penalty ten metres from the posts with three minutes left, the decision to go for the corner looked flawed when they failed to secure the ball from the line-out.

But they kept working hard to ensure that Blackheath were unable to break out, having added only one try to the close-range one which gave them an early lead.

It was obviously going to be a tough test for Mowden, who were lacking six first-choice players but were boosted by lock Rob Conquest making himself available after playing in England Counties' heavy defeat at Gala the previous evening.

George Wacokecoke, brought in on the wing, looked dangerous on the few occasions he received the ball in space, while the other winger, Jamie Barnard, took his chance superbly to score the second try.

The execution of both sides, however, generally wasn't quite precise enough to break down strong defences in a game which was absorbing rather than thrilling for the below average crowd of 800.

Mowden's tries came after 22 and 26 minutes in a dominant period sparked by a powerful burst from Simon Uzokwe.

When he was stopped just short Mowden's attempts to get over were illegally thwarted by the visiting No 8, who was yellow-carded.

Half of his time in the bin was frustratingly taken up by a series of scrums and as Blackheath kept transgressing there was a case for a penalty try.

The referee further angered home fans by blowing for a penalty as Mowden scrum half Matt Walsh was nipping over for a try. But at the next scrum No 8 Ollie Hodgson sent Walsh over.

Good handling set up Barnard's try. Well as he took it by stepping inside off the left wing, it scarcely merited the sponsors' award of Man of the Match considering the 80-minute shifts put in by the likes of Conquest, Hodgson and tight head Ignas Darkintis.

Blackheath replied three minutes before the break after their scrum half was allowed to break through. Centre Chris Auld's prevention of the try earned him a yellow card, but the visitors scored from the ensuing scrum.

Gabbitas' conversion surprisingly completed the scoring. He missed a fairly straightforward penalty after 62 minutes and penalties to the corner gave them two good chances of catch-and-drives.

For Mowden, strong breaks by Wacokecoke and Seals would probably have brought reward against weaker opposition. But victory against the tightest defence in the division was a reward in itself.