HORDEN, who nine years ago were seven divisions below West Hartlepool, won the first league derby between the clubs 12-6 on Saturday.

A crowd of around 300 turned up at Welfare Park to watch a North Two East match played in a good spirit with no yellow cards shown.

While Horden dominated possession, West looked more dangerous in the threequarters but were kept out by good defence.

Centre Andrew Turner kicked four penalties for Horden, three of them in the first half to build a 9-0 lead.

His fourth came inbetween two penalties by fly half David Tighe for West, the second of which set up a frantic last ten minutes, followed by 15 minutes of added time.

"Some of our lads were a bit overawed by it all, but we are very pleased with the win," said Horden chairman and former West captain John Groves.

Flanker Andrew Temple starred for Horden, while centre Andrew Hare made several good breaks for West.

Middlesbrough had to go to Hull without any second row forwards and lost their 100 per cent record when they were beaten 43-15.

The front row was also depleted as Dale Sawdon was unavailable and hooker Richard Horton had to partner flanker Mark Hatfield at lock.

Boro trailed 29-10 at half-time then competed better in the second half, when scrum half Peter Wright finished off a good move to score his second try.

The speedy Hull full back twice came into the line to score in the first half, while Wright's first try resulted from a good break. Danny Bishop added a conversion and a penalty for Boro.

Stockton broke their duck in the same division when they won 36-26 at home to bottom club Sandal.

Stockton's defence looked brittle when the opposing back row ran at them, but they kept their noses in front after open side flanker Jamie Brown scored the first two tries.

Brown, captain of the unbeaten second team, was in the side only because all three first-choice back row men were unavailable.

But he finished off two good moves then winger Simon Crozier ran in a third try, with Nicky Walters' second conversion opening up a 19-0 lead.

Sandal replied with two converted tries before the other winger, Dave Branie, beat two men and cut through to score under the posts.

The visitors' third converted try cut the gap to five points, but a penalty by Walters and an excellent individual try by centre Steve Thornton made sure of victory for Stockton.

Redcar were in the wars at York, where they lost 13-0 after lock Paul Williams was taken to hospital with a neck injury and hooker Marty Challenor was sent off after two yellow card offences.

A try by Nathan McBride, plus a conversion and penalty by Ben Quick, gave York a 10-0 interval lead and they held on in a dour second half.

Morpeth stayed top with a 29-13 home win against Westoe, left winger Alan Rogers scoring all four tries. Westoe led 8-0 but were 24-8 down by half-time.

Tynedale looked set to spring a surprise in the Powergen Cup at Nuneaton when they led 19-18 with five minutes left. But they conceded a fourth try while they had a man in the sin-bin and lost 23-19.

It was a brave effort after they had trailed 10-0 early on to the Division Two club, but they were out of luck when Phil Belgian hit the post with two penalty attempts.

He converted two tries by winger Ben Duncan, while full back Jake White also touched down.

Northallerton maintained their 100 per cent record in Yorkshire Three with a 19-14 win at Moortown, where fly half Brian Tucker crowned an excellent display with a 45-metre drop goal.

Northallerton were under pressure for much of the game and had three forwards sin-binned for technical offences.

They took the lead after nine minutes when full back Matty Bell came into the line and sent Ian Townsend over for a good try on the left wing. Tucker converted and went on to score the rest of the points from three penalties and his drop goal, which regained the lead after Northallerton trailed 10-8 at half-time.

l Blaydon's Nick Gandy has won the September Coach of the Month award for National Division Three North.

Gandy, 28, took over as Director of Rugby during the summer after the club parted company with Welshman Andy Howells towards the end of last season.

Blaydon are top of the division after comfortable wins away to Darlington Mowden Park and at home to Fylde. They also beat Darlington in the Powergen Cup.

New signing Will Rubie, a winger who has played for Oxford in the last two varsity matches, scored a first-half hat-trick on Saturday as Blaydon's Development XV beat Alnwick second 55-0.