Darlington continued to put their fans through emotional turmoil on Saturday as initial disappointment turned to elation and finally nerve-shredding tension.

There was enormous relief after eight minutes of injury time as they hung on for a 19-12 home win against Tynedale, which lifted Darlington to fifth from bottom in National Three North.

Confirmation that three clubs will go down makes every point vital and during the last ten minutes Tynedale had ample opportunity to score the converted try which would have levelled the scores in a gripping game.

Although the visiting backs had often looked threatening when breaking from deep, they weren't so hot near the line and, with the help of one heroic scrum, Darlington held out.

They started poorly and were hardly in the game as they went 9-0 down after 22 minutes in their first league meeting with the Corbridge club.

But three factors seemed to spark them into life, starting with the sin-binning of centre Dave Haswell for persistent offside - the offence which allowed Phil Belgian to kick his third penalty.

Then came the introduction of Andrew Carphin to the back row in place of the injured Tom Wilkinson, coupled with a 20-minute cameo from outstanding flanker Martin Howe.

First he broke away up the right and linked with winger Mark Butler, who might have made the line himself but off-loaded five metres short to Rob Stewart, who couldn't hang on.

Then Howe's pace took him clear on the left and this time the move was finished off as the ball came quickly back from a ruck and prop Joe Oselton took a short pass to drive over.

For his next trick Howe raced on to a chip by fly half Paul Lee and sent Carphin on a galloping run, which ended with Dan Miller almost forcing his way over.

Darlington were awarded a penalty, which Butler missed, but from the restart the home forwards drove on for ten metres and full back Craig Lee came into the line to set up winger Frankie Coulson, who finished impressively from 20 metres.

Butler's second conversion put Darlington 14-9 ahead and Carphin seemed to have got over for a third try on the stroke of half-time, but he was penalised for a double movement.

At this point Tynedale were down to 14 men after Howe showed he also had the appetite for the murkier side of the game, getting involved in a scrap at the bottom of a ruck. After speaking to both Howe and his fellow grappler, Peter Southern, the referee sin-binned the Tynedale prop.

Just before he went back on Darlington kicked a penalty to the corner, and although their attempt at a catch-and-drive was foiled they got the ball back and Carphin burst on to a short pass to score.

That made it 19-9 eight minutes after the interval and a comfortable fourth successive home win was on the cards.

But the visitors gradually got back into the game and were as dominant in the last ten minutes as they had been in the first 20.

Stewart's wrong options at scrum half had been costly for Darlington in that initial phase, but when Tynedale began to break out again in the final quarter he was usually the one who got back to halt their attacks.

Darlington were also fortunate that while Belgian's kicks were all well-struck, his radar was slightly off beam and he missed for a third time in the 35-40 metre range with 15 minutes left.

Under increasing pressure, Darlington conceded more penalties and Tynedale opted for a catch-and-drive then a scrum without success before Belgian kicked a simple goal with five minutes to go.

Needing a converted try to draw level, they twice more opted for scrums when awarded penalties, and would surely have scored had they moved the ball to the open side in the dying seconds.

Result: Darlington 19 Tynedale 12.