BLAYDON'S excellent 20-8 win at New Brighton saw them climb away from danger in National Three North, overtaking Darlington with a warning to expect a physical approach from the Merseysiders next week.

New Brighton, who have cancelled their players' contracts, apparently had little else to offer but will come to Blackwell Meadows as keen to bounce back as their hosts, who were trounced 39-7 at Kendal.

As Kendal also moved above them, it meant Darlington dropped back to fourth from the bottom and they know they have to keep winning their home games.

Blaydon were bruised and battered, but delighted with a second successive win after their seven defeats on the trot.

Andy Khan's switch from centre to fly half again paid dividends as he twice broke to send winger Simon Barer over and also sparked the move which led to a try for hooker Matt Hall.

Scrum half Nick Williams also played well in his third game back after injury, and Blaydon's forward dominance meant full back Dan Clappison could afford another off-day with the boot.

The hosts' normally reliable Simon Birley was similarly afflicted as both managed one simple penalty and missed several others.

Blaydon had prop Fatu Tulaga sin-binned shortly after half-time and New Brighton drove over to make it 5-5. But Blaydon came straight back with Hall's converted try and were never threatened again.

Darlington were sucked back into the danger area after their biggest defeat since early season. In four of their previous five reverses they had picked up a bonus point for losing by seven points or fewer, but they couldn't cope with the Kendal mud.

They also badly missed injured flanker Martin Howe and faded rapidly after going 7-0 up.

Craig Lee emerged with the ball after a maul was driven over and David Kell converted. But a knock-on then allowed Kendal to score a breakaway try and they quickly got on top.

It was 17-7 at half-time and Darlington showed no sign of lifting their game as the home full back completed a hat-trick.

They were fortunate that Cleckheaton stayed four points behind them as the West Yorkshire club led 12-0 at injury-hit Tynedale then had a centre yellow carded just before half-time.

While he was off Alistair Grey scored for Tynedale and Will Massey converted then ran in himself form 25 metres on the resumption before adding a penalty to put the hosts ahead.

After another Massey penalty Cleckheaton almost snatched it at the death when they scored a try but the conversion failed.

There was more agony for Middlesbrough in North One as they lost 16-13 at Liverpool St Helens after failing to convert either of the tries which gave them a 10-3 lead.

Boro still had enough possession to win but conceded too many turnovers and were unlucky not to have any reward for ten minutes of relentless pressure at the end. They thought they had scored off the back of a scrum, but it was disallowed.

Their early tries came from a good run up the wing by Andy Micklewright and a line-out drive finished off by Richard Horton, but the hosts landed a drop goal and scored twice just before half-time to lead 13-10.

Simon Moore took over the kicking from Dave Richardson and levelled the scores with a penalty, only for Liverpool to reply five minutes later.

While the three Richardson brothers couldn't tip the balance for Boro, the Foreman trio again engineered a series of breakaways to do it for Hartlepool Rovers in a 27-22 win at Stockton.

The hosts dominated possession, but other than an early try by winger Andrew Lilley all Rovers' points came from the Foremans with Andy pulling the strings at scrum half.

He and full back Brian scored tries while Gareth kicked three conversions and landed two penalties in the last ten minutes after the gap had been cut to 21-19 from 21-6 at half-time.

Jeremy Good's excellent kicking helped Stockton back into it as he landed four penalties and converted a good forward try finished off by Alan Brown.

Rovers' third successive win lifted them two points above neighbours West, who lost 46-0 at Driffield after losing the influential Dave Tighe following a blow suffered straight after the kick-off.

Phil Wallis went to fly half with Martin Todd coming on at full back, but they had no answer to the counter-attacks of the speedy Driffield backs, particularly Rugby League winger Alasdair McClarron, on loan from Hull KR.

Lock Neil Cook scored Redcar's only try in a 15-8 defeat at home to second-placed Huddersfield, while leaders Westoe overcame staunch resistance to win 21-6 at Alnwick. Westoe's forward power proved decisive as they extended a 10-6 interval lead.

Horden remain bottom, despite a thrilling 36-34 win at home to Sandal, while the top-of-the-table clash in Durham and Northumberland One was also a close affair, leaders Percy Park winning 20-18 at home to Durham City.