WHILE the victory was welcome, Mowden Park were again thwarted in their hope of assembling a set of sparkling backs.

It has been an on-going frustration since Kevan Oliphant played his last game 13 months ago, with the personnel constantly changing but never quite clicking.

The selected centre pairing of Martin Shaw and Chris Blacklock promised much, but although Blacklock's registration was sent to Twickenham a month ago it had apparently not been satisfactorily completed and he was not allowed to play.

The reshuffle took Mark Bedworth from full back, his best position, to inside centre with Shaw outside him. And although Shaw showed some early flashes of pace and class his supply of ball gradually dried up.

The result was that Mowden made hard work of beating a Liverpool side who even at the death threatened to snatch victory through the ability of their backs to attack from deep.

They swept from their own 22 to within ten metres of the Mowden line in injury time, but home full back Iain Dixon grabbed a loose ball and Bedworth put in a 50-metre clearance.

The questions remain over Andy Foreman's service from scrum half and when Mowden went 13-11 down with 15 minutes left he switched with winger Richard Holbrough.

The upshot was that Foreman scored the winning try, stretching over in the left corner following a long pass from Dixon after an impressive series of pick-and-drives by the forwards.

Bedworth converted from the touchline, casting doubt on the wisdom of handing earlier kicking duties to fly half Dave Richardson, who missed twice before slotting two relatively easy penalties.

Another late change saw Jonny Boatman come into the back row for Tony Irwin, who had flu, and he did well alongside the reassuring presence of Richard Arnold.

With Ian Robinson and Kelekolio Paino giving Mowden a distinct edge at the line-out, it was surprising that it took them 30 minutes to score, especially as Liverpool had a lock sin-binned.

The breakthrough came from a penalty to the corner and a line-out drive from which hooker Tasi Tuhana almost made the line and prop Dave Sinclair followed up to score.

Then Shaw and winger Craig Firth burst away up the right and another penalty to the corner would have brought a second try had the pass off the back of the line-out to Boatman not been forward.

Another line-out close to the line was won by Arnold, only for the ball to be dropped in midfield.

Richardson added a penalty right on half-time following a 30-metre run by Dixon, who was sin-binned on the resumption for preventing release after the first of Liverpool's threatening attacks.

They ran the penalty and were held up just short, but they had sensed Mowden were vulnerable and a gliding run by flanker Martin Gaskell took him past four tackles to the right corner.

With the defence sucked in, Liverpool moved the ball out for former Great Britain Rugby League winger Anthony Sullivan to score by the posts.

The conversion and a drop goal by fly half Simon Worsley put them in front, but one of several surging runs by Paino gave Richardson the chance to restore Mowden's lead.

Worsley added another drop goal with 15 minutes left, but the Mowden forwards knew they did not deserve to lose and with Tuhana, Paino and prop Danny Brown prominent, they set up the decisive try.

Result: Darlington Mowden Park 18 Liverpool St Helens 13.