BLAYDON are sweating on the fitness of skipper Dave Guthrie ahead of Saturday's rearranged match at home to Darlington Mowden Park.

He accidentally did the splits near the end of the 26-15 win at Tynedale, which was Blaydon's sixth win in seven games since his return from injury.

Guthrie may have damaged a buttock muscle and as they lost every game during his previous absence, Blaydon will be desperate to have him leading the side for what is certain to be a fierce encounter with Mowden.

Tynedale were without ten first-choice players and had winger Ali Gray at scrum half, but he began by breaking away on the blind side from his own half to score.

After that the Blaydon forwards took control and every time they got near the line Tynedale conceded a penalty.

Dan Clappison kicked three of them, then five minutes before half-time a poor clearance by home full back Will Massey allowed Blaydon winger Simon Barber to counter-attack.

He danced through five opponents and with several players queuing up for the scoring pass it was Nick Wainwright who touched down under the posts.

Tynedale kicked a penalty, but Blaydon scored again just after half-time when No 8 Gavin Stainsby picked up from a scrum and scrum half Nick Williams broke away, drew the full back and sent Clappison over. He also converted and added a late penalty after prop Jonny Williams showed a turn of pace to score for Tynedale.

The bonus point Darlington collected for losing by fewer than eight points in a 17-15 defeat at Cleckheaton took them above Mowden, but it was scant consolation after dominating the game.

Cleckheaton scored a try four minutes from time and the fact that the conversion which clinched victory was from wide out rubbed salt into Darlington's wounds as they were made to pay for the absence of David Kell.

Following his 23-point haul the previous week he surprised his teammates by crying off with a calf strain.

Ben Snook took over the kicking and had he succeeded with either of two second half penalties Darlington would have won.

But they had enough opportunities to have sewn the game up long before that with player-coach Craig Lee saying: "We had 80 per cent of the ball in the first half and should have been 20 points up."

Cleckheaton's winning try came when they broke away from their own 22 after Darlington dropped the ball as they were still dominating at that late stage.

Scrum half Rob Stewart was too often guilty of taking the ball into contact when he had players free outside, while the driving maul did not work as well as in the home meeting between the sides, although it did produce the two tries.

Lee finished off the one in the first half, with Snook adding the conversion and a penalty for a 10-3 interval lead.

Player-coach John Bentley scored on the wing for Cleckheaton straight after half-time and an excellent conversion levelled the scores.

Lock Michael Taylor was driven over from a line-out after 52 minutes to put Darlington 15-10 in front, but they paid for failing to take their chances.

Middlesbrough remain next to the bottom of North One after losing 44-7 away to leaders Hull Ionians. The fact that the team immediately above them, Liverpool St Helens, lost 40-18 at home to Altrincham Kersal is a good sign for Boro as they still have to play them at home, as well as bottom club Sheffield.

West Hartlepool pulled off the shock of the season in North Two East with a 17-7 win away to leaders Westoe.

Doing Newcastle Falcons a favour by getting England Under 19 prop David Wilson back into action after his lay-off does not appear to be doing much for Westoe.

After struggling to beat Driffield the previous week they were again off colour and promotion no longer looks a certainty.

Player-coach Richard Arnold was one of two back row men they had sin-binned following a high tackle which forced Allan Milne out of the game.

The home fans' frustration with the referee continued after the final whistle, but their side, while dominating much of the second half, had been guilty of too many handling errors and turnovers. Wilson crashed over early in the game but couldn't ground the ball and within 20 minutes West were 11-0 up.

Lively scrum half Darren Thomas dashed down the blind side to score and David Tighe added two 40-metre penalties.

He added two more in the second half either side of a try by flanker Dave Bowyer for Westoe following a half break by fly half Dave Haswell.

Horden let an 11-0 half-time lead slip to lose 19-11 at Redcar, who scored tries through Richie Barker, Jamie Connolly and Chris Palmer, with Mark Patterson adding two conversions.

Centre Andrew White scored for Horden, with Andy Turner landing two penalties.

Hartlepool Rovers won 27-22 at home to Sandal after trailing 14-13 at half-time. They pulled away through Simon Rutherford touching down and Andrew Lilley scoring his second try. All were converted by Gareth Foreman, who added two penalties for a 27-17 lead before Sandal scored at the death.

Stockton lost a cracking game 41-29 at home to Driffield, whose lively backs scored three tries from 60 metres.

Three penalties by Jeremy Good, who scored 19 points, had Stockton 9-3 ahead after 25 minutes but two minutes later they had conceded two converted tries.

A penalty and another try straight after the interval made it 27-9 and after Good's fourth penalty the visitors fashioned another brilliant six-man move.

Stockton came back strongly with Good breaking through to score, then Richie Brown touched down and at the death they were awarded a penalty try.

Durham City moved ahead of visitors Northern into third place in Durham and Northumberland Division One with a 24-13 win.

The City forwards dominated the first half to set up a 21-6 lead.