Darlington player-coach Craig Lee is confident his side can avenge their opening National Three North defeat at Rugby Lions when they return in two weeks for a Powergen Cup tie.

Darlington lost 28-16 but Lee, who is out for six weeks after a knee operation, said: "I think we can turn it round. They had a well-drilled, experienced pack and we didn't get much quality ball, but it was disappointing that we didn't take more of our chances.

"They scored an interception try just before half-time and we gave away another silly one two minutes after the break."

Tries by 19-year-old newcomers David Kell and Lee Davis came too late to save Darlington after they went 20-3 down in a poor game.

Hooker Dan Oselton did well for Darlington and his brother Joe had to pack down alongside him after Paul Shepherd retired early on because of a migraine.

A reshuffle after half-time saw former skipper David Glendenning go on at full back for his first game at this level, with Kell switching to partner Andrew Turner at centre.

Turner, signed from Horden, completed Darlington's scoring with two penalties but also missed a few times, while the clearance kicks and restarts often gave possession back to relegated Rugby.

Penalties were exchanged before Rugby scored their first try after 38 minutes when they put their right winger into space.

As Darlington finally began to threaten, fly half Paul Lee's long pass was intercepted to give Rugby a converted try.

Missed tackles allowed them to make it 20-3 shortly after half-time before a break on halfway led to Davis's try after 50 minutes.

Penalties were again exchanged then Kell scored in the corner to give Darlington hope. But with 13 minutes left lock Richard Snowball was sin-binned for pulling a maul down and in his absence Rugby mauled over for a try.

There was a shock at Bradford and Bingley, where the fancied hosts lost 45-28 to Tynedale, who have lost three of their best players and were expected to struggle.

Tynedale went 14-0 down before their enterprising back play produced results. They scored six tries, one of them by new captain Phil Belgian, who added three penalties and three conversions.

Blaydon lost 34-10 at Bedford Athletic after trailing only 6-3 going into the final quarter. The Blaydon pack enjoyed long spells of domination, but the midfield defence suffered from the loss of centre Luke Wattam through injury and Bedford scored three tries in six minutes. A converted penalty try gave Blaydon their only other points.

Middlesbrough's return to North One began with a 26-15 defeat at Morley, who achieved a flattering margin with a converted late try.

The try-count was 3-3 but Simon Moore and Dave Richardson failed with all Boro's kicks at goal.

The backs looked good, but although they competed well the forwards couldn't win enough ball in the absence of hooker Richard Horton, who was ill.

After a slow start Boro scored after 20 minutes when they moved the ball along the line for winger Tom Bivens to touch down and earn a 5-3 lead.

Two tries and another penalty put Morley 19-5 up at half-time but Boro improved and ten minutes after the break hooker Ben Horton was driven over following a line-out.

No 8 Ian Bradford picked up a loose ball 30 metres out and stormed to the line to reduce the gap to four points, only for Morley to score in the corner and add an excellent conversion.

In North Two East Stockton began with a 41-0 defeat away to relegated Huddersfield while Horden, who have lost several backs, went down 19-0 at promoted Northern.

Redcar won 36-22 at home to Morpeth with player-coach Jamie Connolly scoring two tries, as did No 8 Mark Poulson. Liam Turner and Paul Beal also touched down and Mark Patterson added three conversions.

York have opted to play in the Durham and Northumberland Leagues following their relegation from North Two East and they began with a 19-0 win at Billingham. Rob Kama, Stu Davies and James Arkle scored the tries.

With Chris Mattison and Darren McKinnon back from Mowden Park, Durham City will hope for a revival and they won 40-3 at home to Ryton. Mattison was among the scorers as they took a 25-3 interval lead.

West Hartlepool crashed out of the Powergen Cup when they lost their preliminary round tie 79-8 at Hull.

They were without skipper Stu Bennett and influential centre Allan Milne, who has a hamstring injury, and lost Henry Tones, Peter Hodgson and Darren Thomas during the match.

Ex-colts Steve Clayton and Ben Wilson went on for their senior debuts in the second half.

Hodgson, Tones and try-scorer Tim Sawyer tackled relentlessly, but Hull had too much pace and power in midfield.

Hartlepool Old Boys were thumped 91-5 at Ponteland and lost skipper and former Durham County lock forward Stewart Hind with a dislocated shoulder, which could put an end to his season.