THE Darlington clubs continued to climb away from the foot of National Three North as Mowden Park won 35-20 at home to Bedford Athletic and their neighbours drew 25-25 at Dudley Kingswinford.

Full back Iain Dixon scored a hat-trick for Mowden, who also managed two catch-and-drive tries, despite problems at second row.

Paul Evans was selected there, but a neck problem forced him to switch with No 6 Fosita Tanginoa very early in the game and from the 20th minute he was partnered by Tom McLaren after Ian Robinson went off with a shoulder injury. Evans retired 15 minutes into the second half.

Mowden did most of the attacking in a game which featured lengthy periods of scrappy play and should have won more easily, but poor tackling allowed the visitors to cut the deficit.

Bedford attacked early on, but when they failed to throw the ball in straight at a line-out Mowden won the scrum and fly half Michael Georgiou flipped the ball inside to Dixon, who raced 60 metres to the corner.

After 15 minutes the referee adjudged that Dixon had beaten two visitors to the touchdown following a grubber kick by Richard Holbrough.

Although Mowden had most of the play, their lead was wiped out after 30 minutes. First they conceded a penalty then poor tackling allowed the visiting half backs to break through and score under the posts.

A penalty to the corner resulted in a good take by Tanginoa and the drive was finished off by Tasi Tuhana, with Mark Bedworth's conversion giving Mowden a 17-10 interval lead.

Playing downwind, Bedworth quickly added a penalty and when he attacked on the restart a Bedford player was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle and Bedworth's kick to the corner produced a try for No 8 Matt Holmes.

Tim Wilks went on for Evans and played well, but after another Bedworth penalty put Mowden 28-10 in front they relaxed, allowing Bedford to score two tries either side of Dixon's third.

He capitalised when two visiting players initially went for a high ball then left it for each other. It bounced kindly for Dixon and he went under the posts, Bedworth adding his second conversion.

Darlington were not as strong up front as they hoped to be at Dudley as lock Paul Radford had to work and prop Dan Miller went off with an ankle injury after three minutes.

Paul Shepherd replaced him and they were still able to get their rolling maul working to good effect, especially in the second half as they came back from 25-15 down with 30 minutes left.

There were still eight minutes of normal time left and about the same of injury time when they drew level, but although they went close a few times in the end they were grateful to see a long-range penalty Dudley fall short just before the end.

While Michael Taylor continued his progress at No 8, Darlington's most threatening player in the first half was winger Frankie Coulson.

He got to within five metres to set up a try for Taylor then cut inside from 20 metres out to score by the posts to turn a 13-3 deficit into a 15-13 lead.

The backs were twice caught out of position for Dudley's tries and centre Richard Lang was over-committed in defence.

This allowed the hosts to score either side of half-time and regain their ten-point cushion, but with the wind behind them Darlington always looked capable of clawing it back.

New kicker David Kell generally struck the ball well, and although he missed with a couple of kicks his second penalty after 53 minutes raised hopes.

Darlington then rolled a maul almost to the line and when a five-metre scrum was awarded they were under pressure as it wheeled. But the home scrum half went for Taylor as he tried to pick the ball up and Rob Stewart grabbed it to score. Kell converted from halfway out to level the scores.

After four long trips to the Midlands in five games, Darlington have next week off because of the Powergen Cup then face leaders Halifax at home.

With four Samoans in their team, Halifax showed their strength with a 40-12 home win against Blaydon, who were hanging on at 20-12 into the second half until they lost hooker Matt Hall and new scrum half Shaun Richardson.

Hall suffered a rib injury, while Richardson, who is on loan from Harrogate, damaged an ankle and had to be replaced by Sean Hannah for 20 minutes.

Nor were Blaydon helped against big, bruising opponents by losing flanker Andy Wright and prop Paul Winter to the sin-bin.

Fly half Dan Clappison played well for Blaydon and they had a good spell either side of half-time, but once Halifax regained control they made no mistakes and used the ball well, scoring three late tries.

No 8 Charlie Roe picked up from a scrum to put winger Simon Barber over for Blaydon's first try and winger David Grand raced over from halfway for the second.

Middlesbrough lost 36-11 at home to North One leaders Hull Ionians after leading 11-3 with 20 minutes to go.

The visitors suddenly clicked and Boro stopped playing and conceded five tries, one of them to former West Hartlepool forward Mick Watson.

New lock Gareth Lodge typified Boro's effort, playing well in the first half before fading, and all their points caame from David Richardson, who played at centre with Neil Baggett at fly half.

Boro led 3-0 at half-time, then came an exchange of penalties before Richardson scored a good try after line-out possession was chipped ahead. But once Hull started creating openings Boro had no answer.

It was even worse for Stockton in North Two East as their injury-ravaged side conceded 11 tries, ten of them converted, in a 75-19 defeat at Driffield.

With ten players already missing, Stockton lost both centres, Jamie Hauxwell and Matty Oates, during the match, along with replacement Danny Taylor and prop John Buddington. Finally, flanker Brett Wildridge was sent off late in the game for retaliation and the club are likely to suspend him for three games.

Stockton were 21-0 down after 15 minutes, and their only consolation was that Jeremy Good kicked well, landing three penalties and converting a try by Phil Austen.

Horden recorded their first win when they ended Redcar's good run with a tremendous first half performance on the way to a 19-7 home victory.

Although Andy Turner will be out for at least three weeks with a shoulder injury, new centre Andrew White scored two tries, 18-year-old lock Dan Palmer did well at the line-out and and back row men Ryan Pink and Paul McBurnie defended well under Redcar's second half pressure.

After White crashed through for his first try, Paul Bruce made a break to set up his second, then Craig Gilmour touched down after a scrum was driven ten metres. Scrum half Luke Watson added two conversions for a 19-0 half-time lead and Redcar's points came from a converted try by winger Malcolm Storey.

West Hartlepool lost 34-14 at home to Richard Arnold's Westoe, despite a battling second half display after falling 24-0 down at half-time.

New tight head prop Ryan Phillips did well for West, whose tries came from front row men Tim Sawyer and Mark Cholmondeley.

Both Westoe centres crashed over in the first ten minutes and flanker Glen Walton finished a driving maul, with Paul Hagan landing all three conversions and a penalty.

He also converted hooker Nigel Douglas's try after the break to it 34-0 before West fought back.

Northallerton, with five regulars missing, lost 30-22 away to Baildon in Yorkshire Three after leading 19-7. Winger Ian Townsend scored a breakaway try and the rest of the points came from Brian Tucker with three penalties, a drop goal and a conversion.