TWO late converted tries allowed Darlington to close the gap on last Saturday's visitors, Halifax, to the maximum allowable margin for a bonus point under National Three North's new scoring system.

They lost 30-23, but to secure the bonus point after trailing 30-6 with 15 minutes left could be seen as a noteworthy achievement and it lifted them out of the bottom three.

Defeat by the leaders was expected, but now they have to visit second-placed Macclesfield tomorrow unsure what to expect.

Darlington have won on their last two visits to the Cheshire club, but they appear to have strengthened and won at Blaydon last Saturday.

After losing a poor game 15-3 at Fylde, Darlington Mowden Park are at home tomorrow to Kendal, who they thrashed twice at Yiewsley Drive last season in league and cup.

Darlington have made their usual rocky start to the season, but in only their second home game they did more than enough to suggest they will win more than they lose at Blackwell Meadows.

It was a testament to their spirit and stamina that they were able to come back strongly once lock Richard Snowball returned to the field following ten minutes in the sin-bin midway through the second half.

It has been suggested that all Snowball's game lacks is aggression, but this was his second yellow card of the season, and apart from the RFU fine his teammates cannot afford his absences from the fray.

They were still just about in the contest until he departed for punching a player who was blatantly on the wrong side in a maul, then Halifax scored two tries during his absence.

As soon as he returned Darlington drove a maul 15 metres and full back David Kell kicked his third penalty prior to converting the two tries.

After the first try Snowball caught the restart, evaded the first tackle and charged through two more on a rampaging 30-metre run which immediately got Darlington back on the attack.

Apart from the yellow card, their other mistake was to surrender possession at a time when they were threatening to take the lead ten minutes after the interval.

After hanging on valiantly in the last ten minutes of the first half to trail only 11-6, they had the visitors rattled when they drove a maul 20 metres into the 22.

But when they let the ball out fly half Paul Lee had no room to work, and when he released the ball in the tackle Halifax snapped it up and moved it out for former West Hartlepool and Leeds centre Craig Emmerson to race 60 metres to score.

It was always going to be difficult to come back after that, but in the end there was plenty to encourage the management and fans. The three new 19-year-olds, Kell, No 8 Michael Taylor and centre Lee Davis, all did well and most of the constructive attacking rugby came from Darlington.

The left-footed Kell's first penalty, from the left touchline ten metres outside the 22, showed he is a good striker. He missed a couple of easier chances but looks a good find, even if he was out of position when Halifax scored their first try from a chip to the corner.

Darlington were never ahead, but at 3-3 they could have taken the lead after 15 minutes when Paul Lee made a lovely break and his brother Craig dropped his pass.

He wasn't alone after all the rain, with Halifax's powerful No 8 dropping a lot of ball, and the visitors deserved their 11-6 interval lead.

As they piled on the pressure in the last ten minutes of the half, Halifax twice kicked penalties to the corner, but on the second occasion they were driven back and the same happened at a scrum shortly afterwards after Kell and Marc Potts combined to fumble another dangerous chip.

This crucial scrum reflected a great effort by the front row of the Oselton brothers, Joe and Dan, and Paul Shepherd, who deputised for the injured Dan Miller and battled on until ten minutes into the second half following an ankle injury.

Davis, Kell and Potts produced a good attack up the left to spark Darlington's early second half domination, but Halifax's breakaway try, swiftly followed by Snowball's yellow card, decided the outcome.

There was a suspicion of a forward pass in the moves which produced both the tries which took Halifax 30-6 clear, and Darlington could have lost heart.

But they raised themselves on Snowball's return and the value of an extra man was again underlined when Halifax had a prop yellow-carded after a flare-up.

Darlington kicked a penalty to the corner and flanker Martin Howe was driven over from the line-out, with Kell adding an excellent conversion from wide on the left.

From the restart came Snowball's charge, Darlington kept the pressure on and scrum half Rob Stewart burrowed over from a ruck in injury time. Kell again converted to ensure the bonus point.

Mowden failed to add to the Mark Bedworth penalty which gave them an early lead at Fylde.

They struggled to get out of second gear in a poor game, for which their depleted squad was further reduced before kick-off as No 8 Matt Holmes fell ill and replacement Luke Monument was unable to travel.

South African lock Naude Pretorius was drafted in, with Paul Evans switching to No 8, but Mowden were unable to string passes together and new winger Andrew McNally never received the ball.

A former Featherstone Rugby League player, he was signed last week and can also play at centre, but Mowden are happy with Bedworth and Martin Shaw there for the moment. They are short of wingers with Tom Lauriston and Pedro Salahshouri injured, while Gareth Kerr was unavailable.

McNally got back well at one point to snuff out the threat of a try, otherwise he had very little to do as Mowden repeatedly knocked on and had a penalty count of 15-3 against them.

The pitch had held up well after the rain and could not be blamed for the rapid deterioration in play after a bright first 20 minutes.

After Bedworth's penalty, Mike Scott quickly replied then struck from 45 metres when Mowden fly half Michael Georgiou was sin-binned for not releasing.

It was 6-3 at half-time, but frequent penalties for zealous rucking prevented Mowden from gaining any momentum as Scott kicked three more penalties for Fylde.

* While Northallerton are happy to have another home draw in the third round of the Powergen Junior Vase, their away form looks like keeping them in Yorkshire Three for another season.

They will face Gateshead, the Durham and Northumberland Division Two leaders, in the Vase on November 6 and will be glad of home advantage after losing three successive away games in the league.

They went down 15-3 in a mudbath at Skipton, their only points coming from a Brian Tucker penalty, and slipped below their hosts into sixth place.