Darlington are getting used to the sight of red and yellow cards at Blackwell Meadows and for the second successive match it worked in their favour.

Both sides saw yellow, then red, before another red was brandished at visiting prop Kahn Rudolph, a New Zealander playing only his second game for Morley.

The referee claimed that Kahn had struck him, although it was not evident from the touchline and the player's reaction suggested that any contact had been accidental. He claimed never to have been shown even a yellow card before.

As Khan obviously faces a very lengthy ban, Morley asked for a copy of the match video in the hope that it shows there was no intentional punch.

The three dismissals all came in first half injury time and as Darlington led only 6-5 at the time, the reduction of personnel certainly made a difference.

It was reminiscent of their last match at home to Macclesfield four weeks ago, when they led 9-6 just before the interval then scored two tries while the visitors had two men in the sin-bin and romped away to win 50-16.

The combined effect of twice reaching 50 points is that they are now level on points with leaders Cleckheaton and have cut the points difference deficit to 17.

That could easily be overhauled in two games against bottom club Sandal, but first they visit Cleckheaton next Saturday, when victory would make them hot favourites for automatic promotion.

It may be no coincidence that the spate of cards began with the visit of West Hartlepool, who were the first to try to unsettle Darlington by physical means, knowing they couldn't match their hosts' rugby skills.

But the cards haven't always fallen in Darlington's favour as they were rather inexplicably on the receiving end of three yellows against Aspatria.

The first flare-up on Saturday seemed to be prompted by Bryan Dixon being tackled round the neck. While this would normally be a red rag to the combative No 8, he was not personally involved in the aftermath and it was hooker Dan Osleton who went to the sin-bin.

The referee spoke to both captains, but five minutes later another scuffle saw visiting lock Alan Pierce yellow carded.

The next 12 minutes passed fairly serenely then a minor off-the-ball scrap developed on the right touchline. It might have fizzled out had home winger Mark Butler not involved himself, prompting visiting centre Jason Fieldhouse to wallop Butler, earning red cards for them both.

Two minutes later Rudolph followed and the resulting penalty allowed Darlington full back Kieron Thompson to find the target for the third time for a 9-5 half-time lead.

Although they dominated possession, Darlington had looked rusty after their three-week lay-off and took a lot of wrong options. But as against Macclesfield they turned on the power in the second half, scoring seven tries.

Although Butler's absence meant star flanker Martin Howe had to spend most of the half on the wing, he rejoined the forwards when necessary and they made the extra man count several times.

First they drove a maul all of 30 metres with centre Craig Lee getting the touchdown, and there were also two tries for Dixon, picking up after five-metre scrums had been driven almost to the line.

Thompson burst into the line to score the first of four tries for the backs and his four conversions - two from wide out - gave him a tally of 22 points.

Morley's lack of numbers was again exposed when Paul Lee chipped into space from 40 metres out and winger Paul Beattie followed up to score.

Then replacement centre Tosh McIntee found himself with a clear 35-metre run to the line on the right wing.

Craig Lee also had an easy run-in for the last try in the left corner and by that time his early error was long forgotten.

Lee's attempted pass to Butler after two minutes was intercepeted by Morley winger Nick Simpson, who raced home from 40 metres.

Although they were nearly always on the back foot, Morley could still have been ahead at half-time had their former Wales fly half Colin Stephens been on form.

But he missed two penalties he would normally kick and looked generally out of sorts before being replaced for the last 25 minutes.

It may have been a day for card tricks, but not for Welsh wizards.

Result: Darlington 52 Morley 5.