MOWDEN Park duly completed their expected run of four wins and will set their sights on doubling it before facing unbeaten leaders Waterloo and Halifax at the end of next month.

Next Saturday's match at Tynedale promises to be pivotal in this winning run, which has carried Mowden above faltering Blaydon into fourth place.

Once they broke the deadlock after 35 minutes of turgid rugby on Saturday, Mowden produced some sparkling play, scoring 40 points in the final quarter.

Kendal were driven back in the scrums and the driving maul was virtually their only attacking weapon as they looked clueless with ball in hand.

Mowden lost Dave Richardson with a knee injury in the warm-up, allowing Chris Mattison to make a lively return on the wing, and centres Gareth Kerr and Martyn Bray both had to go off in the second half.

Kerr's impressive breaks were the feature of the first half, but his retirement with a calf problem also allowed Jon Dye to underline his athleticism at centre after switching from lock.

No 8 Tom McLaren, looking fitter by the week, was the outstanding figure in the second half. He scored two of the last five tries, as did scrum half Richard Holbrough, making the most of his 20 minutes as a replacement for newcomer Chris Machin.

Kendal did manage a bout of handling 15 minutes after the break, which took them close enough to the line for No 8 Adrian Bateson to force his way over.

At 20-8 they might have felt they were still in the game, but they were swiftly engulfed by a tidal wave of attacks.

A bullocking drive by McLaren, with several opponents hanging on to him, created the space for Iain Dixon to glide majestically over from 45 metres, rounding the full back with ease.

Then Andy Foreman stepped inside to make 40 metres from halfway, setting up a five-metre scrum from which a McLaren touchdown was a formality.

Dye then came in at pace from centre and popped the ball up for Holbrough to race 30 metres to the posts.

A good turnover by the hard-working Tony Irwin set up the next try with McLaren appearing at centre to take Dixon's pass and charge over.

Excellent inter-passing by the forwards gave lock Ian Robinson his second try and finally Dixon was again involved in setting up Holbrough, who dummied inside to race to the posts, giving Mark Bedworth his sixth conversion.

The late spree was a far cry from the opening 35 minutes, in which both sides kicked one penalty. The deadlock was broken when Richard Arnold broke off the back of a line-out, Irwin and Strong drove on and Robinson dived over.

Just before half-time Dixon ran a poor clearance back from halfway, Machin made a half break and from 15 metres prop Danny Brown charged over.

Straight after half-time a long pass from Bedworth found Irwin, who shrugged off two tackles to score from 20 metres. Then came Kendal's brief rally, but once the tide turned again their resistance crumbled.

Result: Darlington Mowden Park 60 Kendal 8.