FOR the second successive home game Irish flanker Andy Carphin scored two tries as Darlington beat National Three North's bottom club, Stoke-based Longton, 27-3.

Following his brace against Blaydon, Carphin was again in excellent form and although his tries came from close range he often made ground with ball in hand.

Since slipping to their fifth defeat in seven games at Darlington, Blaydon appear to have turned the corner again and their 41-13 win at Preston lifted them into fourth place.

They are three points adrift of Darlington Mowden Park, who were under pressure for much of the game at Macclesfield but defended brilliantly to emerge 11-5 winners.

On a perfect pitch and with only a slight breeze, it was surprising that only one try was scored until Macclesfield drove over from a scrum deep into injury time, when Mowden were down to 13 men.

This was a reflection of Mowden's defence as the front five forwards made 28 tackles between them and the back row 33.

To crown the tremendous efforts of the back row trio, No 8 Tom McLaren scored Mowden's try, his tenth of the season, and was later presented with a tankard as Three North's player of the month for December.

A good run by winger Andy Foreman took Mowden into the home half for the first time, and from the ensuing scrum Richard Holbrough broke on the blind side before flipping the ball up for McLaren to score.

With Mark Bedworth and Dave Richardson both injured, Iain Dixon took over the kicking duties and landed a penalty after frustrated Macclesfield were sent back a further ten metres for dissent.

Foreman went off with a calf injury after 35 minutes and as Mowden had no backs replacements flanker Jonny Boatman had to go on the wing.

Mowden almost scored just before half-time with Jon Dye and Dave Sinclair prominent in a series of pick-and-drives, but Macclesfield threw everything at them after the break.

Mowden held out and on a rare escape from their own half Dixon made it 11-0 after the hosts gave away another silly penalty.

Eni Gisende went on when Richard Arnold departed with 15 minutes left with a pulled hamstring, and Mowden continued to hang on defiantly.

Boatman was sin-binned for obstruction and Sinclair for interfering with the ball on the ground, but the game was all but over by the time Macclesfield scored.

Darlington's sixth successive home win lifted them one place to fifth from bottom.

But they are still involved in the scrap to avoid the third relegation place with Longton and Preston looking doomed.

After a good start, Darlington found themselves on the back foot for a long spell and trailed 3-0. It took them until the third minute of first half injury time to draw level through a Mark Butler penalty.

But they dominated with the wind behind them and Carphin scored twice in the first ten minutes.

For the first he was driven over from a line-out, then he followed up when No 8 Del Lewis went for the line from a five-metre scrum.

Longton were rarely out of their own half and when they kept conceding penalties close to the line Darlington took the chance to punish them.

Butler was on target after 55, 68 and 77 minutes, then in injury time full back Craig Lee came into the line to score from a good move down the left.

Blaydon brought in Dave Marwick for injured lock Jamie Houghton and he had an outstanding game at Preston, pinching a lot of the Grasshoppers' line-out ball.

Flanker Ross Duncan did well at the breakdown, and after driving a line-out 20 metres in the first minute the Blaydon forwards dominated.

They were awarded two penalty tries, one for pulling down a maul and one for a deliberate knock-on when they had a clear overlap.

There were also two tries for winger Simon Barber in the first 15 minutes, while prop Dan Harper scored from a catch-and-drive.

With Dan Clappison unavailable, Richard Windle did well at fly half, sending centre Nick Gandy in from 30 metres by switching play to the blind side with a long pass.

Replacement Sean Hannah scored the last try in the final minute and Windle added his third conversion, having taken over when David Dalrymple failed three times.

West Hartlepool won 15-5 at home to Stockton, for whom skipper Alan Brown was prevented by illness from playing against his former club.

Solid defence kept out Stockton as they used the wind to kick to the corners in a scoreless second half.

The win completed a double for West, although they lost the points for the win at Stockton as winger Steve Black had not been properly registered. This time he was missing through injury.

A Phil Wallis penalty put West ahead and they scored two similar tries after the forwards drove into the 22 and first full back Martin Todd then centre Peter Hodgson raced over from 15 metres.

Wallis converted the second try, while inbetween the West scores winger Dave Braney touched down for Stockton after they had driven West off their own ball ten metres out.

This was prop Mark Cholmondeley's last appearance for West before joining Otley.

Northallerton stayed second in Yorkshire Three after winning 20-0 at Bramley Phoenix, scoring tries through skipper Steve Robinson, fly half Brian Tucker and winger Ed Pratt. Jason Bingley capped a fine display at full back with a penalty and a conversion