MIDDLESBROUGH climbed two places to fourth from the bottom in North Division One when they hung on for their second win of the season.

They avenged a one-point home defeat by Birkenhead Park in the Intermediate Cup by beating them 29-25 after leading 26-10 at half-time.

Boro had also lost away to the Merseysiders, who had tried to overpower them physically in the two previous meetings. But this time it didn't happen, indicating that the home pack are getting stronger with the front row of Dale Sawdon, Richard Horton and Craig Chapman giving them a solid platform.

Two of the four first half tries came from driving mauls, with No 8 Richard McRae peeling off to score and lock Ian Bradford also touching down.

The first try, after five minutes, was scored by winger Andy Micklewright after good handling, but Boro went 10-5 down after 25 minutes.

Then came McRae's try, swiftly followed by flanker Neil Parkin receiving the ball in midfield and surging 20 metres to the posts. Bradford's try came just before half-time and with Simon Moore converting all three Boro were well clear.

But the gap was down to 26-20 before Moore missed a penalty then went off injured, leaving the kicking to Neil Baggett, who also missed before finding the target to give Boro a nine-point cushion.

They had to endure a nervous last five minutes after Park scored another try.

Blaydon continued their resurgence with a third successive win in National Three North, although they were pressed all the way in an exciting game by their big and powerful visitors from Rugby.

A conversion attempt ten minutes from time fell short to leave Blaydon 24-22 in front and the decisive try came when scrum half Nick Williams capped an excellent performance by darting blind from a maul to second winger Simon Barber over.

Dan Clappison's conversion failed but he was back to something like his usual form with four penalties in the 29-22 win, in which prop Fatu Tulaga and lock Jimmy Houghton featured strongly.

Clappison landed three penalties for a 9-3 lead after 20 minutes, which could have been greater but for two scoring chances being wasted through wrong options.

Rugby scored a converted try from a rolling maul, but just before half-time Andy Khan, again playing well at fly half for Blaydon, dummied through to score by the posts and the conversion made it 16-10.

The next try was the best as Blaydon recycled the ball several times as it went across the field from right to left then back again for centre Nick Wainwright to score.

Clappison added a penalty for a 24-10 lead, but with 15 minutes left Blaydon suddenly found themselves having to defend strongly and Rugby managed two tries to set up the dramatic finish.

Darlington Mowden Park held out in the Macclesfield mud until half-time, when they trailed only 5-0. But the team who are second in the table scored their second catch-and-drive try soon after the break and quickly forged ahead to win 32-0.

Injuries forced Mowden to press prop Dave Sinclair into service despite his back problem, but he had to retire just after half-time, when No 8 Paul Evans also went off.

Play was very even for the first 15 minutes, then Macclesfield kicked a succession of penalties to the corner and finally drove over.

There was still nothing between the sides for the rest of the first half, but once Sinclair had gone off the home forwards began to get on top.

Mowden's struggles weren't helped by having hooker Tasi Tuhana and replacement lock Eni Gesinde sin-binned as Macclesfield took their try tally to six with only one conversion.

Gesinde was considered unfortunate as he was first to what he saw as a loose ball and was yellow-carded for handling on the floor.

Tynedale moved back into third place with a 34-23 win at Bedford Athletic, scoring four converted tries in the first half hour, two of them by winger Alistair Gray. Full back Will Massey kicked all the conversions and added two second half penalties.

North Two East leaders Westoe passed 500 points for the season with a 62-0 home win against Redcar, with the Haswell brothers, David and Graeme, scoring two tries each, as did winger Jay Boske. Full back Craig Stephenson also touched down and converted six of the ten tries for a tally of 17 points.

West Hartlepool lost 16-0 at Sandal and are now four points behind Hartlepool Rovers, who recorded their fourth successive win by beating Malton and Norton 32-20.

It was tight until first half injury time, when Andrew Lilley scored his second try and Andy Foreman then touched down for a 25-13 lead.

Simon Rutherford was driven over for Rovers' fifth try, the other first half efforts coming from Dave Carroll and Michael Charlton.

Stockton came back from 20-3 down with ten minutes left to draw 20-20 at home to Alnwick with centres Mattie Oates and Graham Kell forming a good pairing while 18-year-old replacement scrum half Owain Jenkins did well.

It was 13-3 at half-time, the one try coming from a forward drive as Alnwick had bolstered their pack with a few beefy second teamers.

They added a lucky try midway through the second half, when Stockton allowed a winger to run through believing he had knocked on.

Stockton's fightback started when they drove almost to the line and Oates scored, being kneed in the back as he touched down, allowing the hosts to kick the resultant penalty to touch and drive on again.

This time fly half Jeremy Good finished off and added his second conversion before landing a 30-metre penalty to level the scores four minutes from time.

Stockton remain third from the bottom, three points clear of Morpeth and Horden, who lost 45-10 at Huddersfield.

Northallerton ended their losing run in Yorkshire Three by winning 13-6 away to next-to-bottom club Bramley Phoenix. James Reid and Steve Robinson scored the tries.

Gosforth are the region's sole survivors in the quarter-finals of the Powergen Junior Vase after a 26-17 home win against Crewe and Nantwich.

Sunderland lost 13-11 at Heaton Moor and Scarborough went down 23-10 at Anselmians.

Read more about Middlesbrough here.