FOR 40 minutes amalgamation seemed like the only sensible word in Darlington rugby circles as Mowden Park struggled to subdue National Three North's bottom club.

Darlington had gone to Liverpool with a makeshift side, and despite all their recruiting Mowden couldn't find a spark.

They finally sprang to life as promoted Longton tired, but it needed a hat-trick of tries from close range by No 8 Tom McLaren to create a comfortable cushion.

The former Blaydon player forced his way over just before half-time to make it 7-7 and was driven over twice in three minutes midway through the second half.

A dour game then opened up and both sides put together some sweeping moves, but the only remaining try came when Mowden fly half Mark Bedworth hoisted a kick to the left corner and full back Dave Richardson caught it and touched down.

The Stoke-based visitors included open side flanker Paul Sheldon, who was cited by Blaydon for the punch which left lock James Houghton needing 21 stitches in an eye injury last week.

Sheldon kept his powder dry but the Longton forwards more than matched their hosts until they flagged in the last 20 minutes.

Mowden couldn't get quick enough ball to the highly-rated duo of Martin Shaw and Chris Blacklock, who were paired at centre for the first time, and they made little impression in attack.

With Kelekolio Paino again missing through injury, Mowden relied on lanky flanker Eni Gisende for a lot of their line-out ball and he also gave an athletic performance around the field.

Mowden were under early pressure and their highlight of the first quarter came when prop Danny Brown charged up the left wing in pursuit of a kick by Bedworth.

Longton's try came after 20 minutes when good defending had repelled two attacks, but a gap appeared when lock Gareth Rawlings broke from a maul 22 metres out and raced to the line.

Mowden managed a period of pressure after winger Chris Mattison kicked on following a drop-out, but a series of scrums near the line failed to bring a try.

Longton's fly half missed two drop goal attempts before McLaren scored after 40 minutes following two penalties to touch.

Bedworth converted then had an ambitious shot at goal after Richard Arnold made ground from the restart. It was pulled well wide to leave the scores level at half-time.

Scrum half Richard Holbrough made an incisive blind side break on the resumption with Gisende in support, but it proved a false dawn.

The referee warned that the next player penalised would be yellow-carded and Mowden lock Ian Robinson was the unlucky sinner eight minutes after the break. Quite why a visiting forward escaped with a lecture for stamping shortly afterwards was a mystery.

Longton drove a maul 20 metres but were penalised just short of the line and failed to cash in on their numerical advantage.

In fact, Mowden went ahead through a simple Bedworth penalty then Robinson returned accompanied by front row replacements Ian Keeligan and Chris Strong.

Within five minutes Mowden were virtually out of sight. First the home full back had to hack the ball into touch under pressure from an astute Bedworth chip, then after a line-out drive the ball was moved right and Mattison was stopped just short.

McLaren followed up to score and good handling on the restart ended with Mattison kicking ahead into the 22, then a penalty to the corner produced McLaren's third try.

Longton kicked a penalty to make it 20-10, but by this stage Mowden had the confidence to run a penalty and lock Tony Irwin made good ground in the build-up to Richardson's try.

The full back later spoilt a high-speed break-out which should have brought a try by ignoring an overlap, and Longton came back with a sparkling counter-attack of their own before Bedworth completed the scoring with an injury time penalty.