AFTER collecting a bonus point against National Three North leaders Halifax the previous week, Darlington picked up another in an 18-13 defeat away to second-placed Macclesfield.

But they slipped back into the bottom three and need to win at home on Saturday to Cleckheaton, whose abrasive approach saw them brush aside depleted visitors, Blaydon, 23-3.

Darlington could have done better at Macclesfield as they proved the better side for much of the game after a slow start.

Although full back David Kell struck the ball well, he missed four penalties.

But so did the home kicker, and Darlington could not complain about having Dan Oselton sin-binned late in the game with the score 15-13 as Macclesfield had two yellow-carded earlier.

Darlington had to bring in Paul Beattie and he failed to stop his opposite number in the first minute after the kick-off was dropped and Macclesfield moved the ball out for the right winger to score.

A good conversion was followed by a try from a line-out to make it 12-0 after 16 minutes and it needed a good run by the other winger, Frankie Coulson, to get Darlington going. A similar thrust ended with the tackler failing to roll away and being sin-binned, but Darlington were denied the chance to take a quick penalty and gave Kell his third shot at goal, which again went left.

They were on top for the last 20 minutes of the first half and Kell finally found the target, only for Macclesfield to reply right on half-time to lead 15-3.

Darlington were right back in it after 51 minutes when, after several phases of recycling within the forwards, Joe Oselton broke through for his brother Dan to score.

Kell converted and it was looking good for Darlington when a home lock was sin-binned for pulling a maul down.

But despite plenty of pressure there was no further score until Kell kicked a penalty with ten minutes left.

Then came Oselton's yellow card for handling on the deck, and with prop Dan Miller retiring with cramp Darlington were unable to complete the fightback, Macclesfield making sure of victory with a penalty in injury time.

Blaydon were again without fly half Dan Clappison because of his back injury, and when Justin Clarke was also forced to pull out it left them a little lightweight up front.

They failed to compete in the first half and were 16-0 down to a Cleckheaton side who had coach John Bentley, the former British Lion, orchestrating various tricks from the right wing.

Grant Henderson kicked a penalty just before the break for Blaydon and they improved when Gavin Stainsby went on to add some bulk to the back row. But they couldn't break down a well-organised defence and Cleckheaton scored again at the death.

Tynedale drew 23-23 at home to Rugby Lions after skipper Phil Belgian just missed with a drop goal attempt from the last kick of the game.

Centre Barry Hills has returned from Morpeth and scored the try which put Tynedale 12-7 in front. Rugby then kicked two penalties before Belgian replied with a brace for an 18-13 interval lead.

It quickly became 23-13 and remained that way until the 76th minute, when Rugby scored from a line-out, then in injury time a failed clearance by Belgian allowed the visiting full back to run through and score.

Middlesbrough lost 28-3 at Preston Grasshoppers in North One after conceding 17 points in a second half which they dominated.

Boro were ineffective in the first half and trailed 11-3, but after the interval Preston broke out of their own half only three times and scored each time.

Twice they kicked long downfield then picked up to score from the back of a scrum, while Boro were unable to break down their defence.

They had the three Richardson brothers in midfield for the last 20 minutes after sending Shaun off the bench to replace Martin Featherstone at centre.

North Two East leaders Huddersfield won 20-5 at West Hartlepool, for whom scrum half Darren Thomas scored a try from a kick and chase to earn a 5-3 lead. The visitors came back with two tries in six minutes as all the points were scored in the first half.

It promises to be quite a battle between the top four in this division, with Malton and Norton winning 45-12 at home to Stockton, while Westoe thrashed Horden 76-11 and Alnwick won 21-8 at home to Redcar.

Malton scored six tries while Stockton replied with two through Richard Brown and Nicky Poole, plus a conversion by Jeremy Good.

Redcar led 3-0 after a dour first half at Alnwick, but the home backs then showed their paces with three breakaway tries, all converted.

Westoe scored 12 tries at Horden and winger Paul Hagan converted eight of them. Centre Kevin Wilson scored a first half hat-trick and player-coach Richard Arnold was among the scorers. For Horden winger Alan Temple scored a try and Luke Watson added two penalties.

Horden slipped to second bottom, below Hartlepool Rovers on points difference, despite Rovers' 24-8 defeat at Driffield. A Gareth Foreman penalty just before half-time reduced the gap to 12-3 but it became 19-3 before Brian Foreman scored for Rovers.

Consett avenged their Intermediate Cup defeat at York by ending the visitors' 100 per cent record in Durham and Northumberland Division One with a 9-6 win.

Northallerton continued their good home form in Yorkshire Three with a 32-5 win against Thornensians, tries coming from skipper Steve Robinson (2), lock Jeff Foster and winger Ian Townsend.