Darlington chairman Bill Jones has confirmed that amalgamation talks with Mowden Park are off.

In the club's newsletter, Jones writes: "I know from discussions with Darlington club members that Mowden's link-up with Newcastle Falcons is viewed with some concern and is not considered a guaranteed route to promotion.

"Certainly the Falcons connection and the consequent dual registration system do not sit easily with Darlington's philosophy of a "family club" with players coming through the ranks of mini/junior rugby and striving to achieve first team status.

"This is something which is very special and must not be jeopardised, which is the main reason why I see no reason in continuing liaison discussions at present."

Mowden were infuriated when news of the exploratory discussions was prematurely leaked in the press in August, jeopardising their progress.

They have worked very closely with Darlington Borough Council to finalise plans for their new site at West Park, Faverdale, and have always been committed to going ahead with the move from Yiewsley Drive.

Neither club had a first team game last Saturday, although Darlington continued their efforts to address the early season difficulty of staging regular second team fixtures.

The seconds took the field for the fourth successive week and beat Durham City 60-3 with lock David Inman scoring three tries.

They took the opportunity to have a look at 20-year-old former Barnard Castle School fly half Rory Wood, who showed exceptional handling skills.

After spending part of his gap year playing in New Zealand, he has recently been in the Loughborough University first team and is available to Darlington for most of January.

Whether he might be considered for first team duty depends on the fitness of skipper Paul Lee, but it is expected that Lee will return for tomorrow's match at Tynedale.

After winning 19-12 at home to the Corbridge club last month, Darlington go into the new year still seeking their first away win in National Three North.

They are fourth from the bottom and, with three to go down, their target for survival is to double their current tally of five wins. Victories at home to Longton, Liverpool St Helens and Fylde are essential, and a couple of away wins would ease the pressure prior to a tough run-in.

The last two home games are against fourth-placed Mowden (March 20) and second-placed Halifax (April 17) with trips to leaders Waterloo and Blaydon in between.

Mowden are at home to Preston Grasshoppers tomorrow and will be confident of a sixth successive win as the visitors are next to the bottom.

Mark Bedworth could be out for several weeks with his hamstring injury, which provides the opportunity to give former Stockton and Newcastle Academy fly half Dave Richardson an extended run in the No 10 shirt