AFTER a minute's silence for Dave Mitchell, Mowden didn't know whether to be inspired by his memory or subdued by his tragically early death.

For 20 minutes they defended as heroically as he would have wished, but there was no spark in attack and they will hope that one of Mitchell's old West Hartlepool teammates, John Stabler, can shed some light on their shortcomings.

Stabler had been asked to take a look at fly half Michael Georgiou and without Mark Bedworth outside him to shoulder the kicking duties the young South African looked lost.

It was a combination of Georgiou's failed touch kicks and inconsistent refereeing which allowed unbeaten Halifax to score four tries and claim a five-point maximum to stretch their lead at the top of National Three North.

They have no stars, except perhaps full back Anzac Luteru, but with the help of gnarled performers like former Yorkshire prop Richard Szabo they always play with clinical efficiency.

Every time Mowden threatened to get on terms Halifax pulled away, but they were lucky that while Mowden had two men crucially sin-binned their only yellow card came too late to affect the result.

Mowden No 8 Jason Smithson was despatched after 22 minutes and Halifax scored twice while he was off. Then in the second half, when Mowden had the gap down to 15-10, hooker Tasi Tuhana was yellow carded for handling on the deck shortly after a Halifax player escaped with a lengthy ticking-off.

Mowden managed a try while Tuhana was in the bin through a clever piece of opportunism by young winger James Hamer.

But Halifax scored twice either side of Hamer's touchdown for a 27-15 lead and when they were reduced to 14 men they withstood late Mowden pressure - with a little help from the referee - and added a penalty at the death for a flattering margin.

The back row of Smithson, Matt Holmes and Fosita Tanginoa did well for Mowden, but other than former Falcons centre Martin Shaw their backs failed to function.

Halifax scored twice from catch-and-drives and twice from good handling following failed clearances.

Iain Dixon landed a 45-metre penalty for Mowden to level the scores after 12 minutes, but Halifax came back with two good attacks up the left and it needed excellent defence to keep them out.

Smithson, part of the fitness team at Newcastle Falcons, looked strong and mobile but was perhaps a little over-exuberant as he had already been penalised twice when he was sin-binned.

Halifax kicked the resulting penalty to touch and it was fortunate for Mowden that the throw-in wasn't straight. They were still holding out when centre Craig Emmerson broke through and was brought down just short of the posts by Tanginoa.

A try had to come and it stemmed from a counter-attack up the left after a failed clearance, followed by a catch-and-drive.

Just before Smithson returned another mis-hit kick allowed Halifax to run the ball back and good inter-passing sent flanker David Jessiman in by the posts.

Dixon hit a post with another well-struck penalty just before half-time and when the player who caught the rebound was nailed by Gareth Kerr Mowden forced a five-metre scrum. But when they moved the ball out they were too static to break through.

They profited, however, from Georgiou's poor restart after half-time as it seemed to fool Halifax, who failed to gather it. The Mowden forwards drove on well into the 22 and when the ball came back Hamer appeared at centre, put a clever little grubber kick past his marker and followed up to score, Dixon converting.

Although Ian Robinson had won all their line-out ball, Mowden took off both locks and sent on Naude Pretorius and Eni Gisende when Tuhana was sin-binned.

Halifax kicked the penalty to the corner and drove over to lead 20-10, but then Smithson made two powerful runs and Shaw sent Tanginoa over.

Again Halifax came straight back, pinning Mowden in the right corner, where another failed clearance allowed the visitors to run it back for left winger Nicolas Cooper to score the decisive try.

Mowden sent on Peni Fakelelu for Ian Keeligan, and while it clearly didn't do their scrum any good they piled on late pressure and there was a case for a penalty try when the visitors were penalised three times in quick succession on their line.

Halifax are streetwise enough to make sure they win and the late penalty rubbed salt into Mowden's sense of injustice.

Result: Darlington Mowden Park 15 Halifax 30