Ecstasy and agony for Darlington

Liverpool's shock 19-18 win means Darlington are still not safe from relegation in National Three North and need to win Saturday's match at home to Darlington Mowden Park.

Liverpool remain six points adrift of Darlington in the third relegation spot but have a game in hand and a much easier run-in. They play Mowden, Preston Grasshoppers and Tynedale at home, plus Kendal and Macclesfield away.

Dudley, two points behind Darlington, have Halifax and New Brighton at home plus Longton and Waterloo away.

Darlington played most of the rugby in the first half at Dudley yet found themselves 20-0 down after facing a stiff breeze. They halved the deficit within five minutes after the interval, but despite total second half domination the game was in injury time before they went ahead.

Goal-kicking was again a problem, with David Haswell missing twice early on, and Darlington sent on Mark Butler for Graham Haswell at half-time, with Craig Lee switching to full back.

Butler landed three penalties from six attempts and the kick which edged them ahead after 80 minutes followed his own comical drop goal attempt, which went into touch just inside the corner flag.

Butler silenced the home crowd's jeers as Dudley were penalised at the line-out and he slotted the kick. He also converted both injury time tries, breaking through himself to set up the second for replacement flanker Ian Fulwood.

Dudley kicked an early penalty and after a tenth minute scrap Darlington had prop Paul Shepherd sin-binned.

But with 14 men they took the game to Dudley and were unlucky to concede a try after 21 minutes, when two defenders collided. David Haswell was yellow carded for a technical offence and Dudley kicked the resulting penalty then added another converted try when a player on his knees pulled the ball out of ruck and they hacked on to touch down.

Butler quickly landed the first of his penalties then missed an easy one, but from the drop out the Darlington forwards drove on and Del Lewis touched down, with Butler converting.

After 60 minutes the forwards recycled the ball three times from a scrum 25 metres out and finally sent hooker Rob Goddard over in the corner.

Butler alternated two misses with two successes to gain the lead, then replacement scrum half David Andrew touched down and Fulwood's try completed the 35-20 win.

Mowden won 20-15 at home to Fylde, who defended well and did well to keep out Kelekolio Paino.

The Tongan, normally a lock, made his comeback on the wing after James Tyrrell cried off and looked dangerous every time he had the ball.

The Mowden front row more than matched their opponents and hooker Tasi Tuhana scored two of the three tries from line-out drives following penalties to the corner.

But Mowden made it hard for themselves by presenting five penalty opportunities to the division's top kicker, Mike Scott.

He landed the lot, and with the help of the wind had Fylde 12-5 ahead after 39 minutes. But Mowden scored a good try on the stroke of half-time with the ball going along the backs before centre Martyn Bray cut through to give winger Andy Foreman a clear run in. Scott kicked his fifth penalty after 47 minutes, when Bray was sin-binned for handling on the floor.

But it was all Mowden after that and Tuhana did well for his second try after 57 minutes. He spun off the back of the maul to force his way over and Mark Bedworth's conversion put Mowden 17-15 ahead. He then added his one penalty from five attempts.

Blaydon were out of sorts at home to Liverpool after skipper Dave Guthrie was a late withdrawal because of work. But they seemed to have the game won until the visitors were awarded their controversial try in the eight minute of injury time.

The winger appeared to have a foot in touch, then hit the corner flag and there was even a question mark over whether he grounded the ball properly. The referee, who was 20 metres away, gave the try after consulting the touch judge.

Centre Peter Kilburn burst through for an early try for Blaydon, converted by Dan Clappison, but a try and two penalties saw them trail 11-7 until Clappison kicked a penalty just before half-time.

Flanker Peti Keni rumbled over from a line-out six minutes after the break, but a penalty for each side were the only other scores until the disputed decider.

If three teams go down from North Two East it's going to be quite a scrap to avoid joining Northern and York in the drop. Horden won 36-14 at Northern, but weren't helped by Sandal's 32-10 home win against West Hartlepool or Bridlington's 28-22 victory at Westoe. Redcar are not safe after their 30-0 defeat at Morpeth, nor are Stockton, who visit Horden in the next league match on April 3.

Horden's revival continued with two tries by Paul Bruce and others from Paul Scott, Andrew Evans and David Grand, plus a penalty and four conversions by Andrew Turner. They lost Craig Gilmour (ankle) and Michael Thompson (ribs) in the first half and led only 10-6 at the break.

But with locks Michael Thubron and Craig Tait helping them dominate possession, they surged 36-9 clear before Northern scored at the death. Evans' try came from a jinking run down the left after Turner ripped the ball off an opponent, while Grand showed pace and vision for his try.

West Hartlepool lost Paul Rudd with a knee injury sustained in making an excellent tackle as they battled to hang on against the slope at Sandal. They trailed 13-0 then 18-3 until a converted pushover try by Stuart Bennett gave them hope with 20 minutes left.

But Sandal mauled their way over for a disputed try and broke away virtually from their own line to score again at the end.