Darlington dropped a strong hint that they might climb into the North One promotion frame when they won 20-16 away to previously unbeaten leaders Morley.

Full back Kieron Thompson, who had previously struggled with his kicking, slotted two straightforward penalties in the last 13 minutes to clinch victory.

He also had the simple task of converting a penalty try, which proved very timely as it was awarded just before half-time and allowed Darlington to go in only 9-7 down.

They had the advantage of the diagonal wind after the interval and went ahead after three minutes when prop Joe Osleton broke off the back of a maul and drove over on the blind side.

Thompson's conversion made it 14-9, but Morley came back with their only try when their outside centre got past two tackles then the winger rounded Frankie Coulson to score.

The conversion put Morley back in front, but Darlington survived a couple of injuries to earn the reward for their pressure.

Paul Lee, who had been very influential, went off with a groin injury after 52 minutes, so Dave Haswell switched to fly half and David Andrew went on at centre.

With Richard Snowball already out with a bruised stomach, the other lock, Paul Radford, went off with an ankle injury, leaving Dave Inman and Rick Taylor in the second row.

But when former Wales fly half Colin Stephens had the chance to put Morley back in front, he missed a relatively simple chance to land his fourth penalty.

Darlington's penalty try was awarded for persistent infingements during a period of sustained pressure.

At the other end of the table West Hartlepool recorded their first victory at the sixth attempt when they held on for a 20-18 home win against Aspatria.

David Tighe, normally a scrum half, switched to fly half and also took over the goal-kicking, landing five penalties while scrum half Darren Thomas scored a try.

West came back from 6-0 down to lead 20-6 but were left hanging on with 14 men at the end after lock Andrew Davies was sent off for tripping after 73 minutes.

In North Two East Middlesbrough lost 25-13 at home to second-placed Sheffield after producing their best start of the season.

With the wind behind them, they took the game to their visitors and led 10-3 at half-time with Danny Poole involved in both tries.

Good work by the forwards sent the winger in for the first score after five minutes, and his inside pass provided lock Ian Bradford with the second after 28 minutes.

With Carl Burnett injured, Andy Micklewright took the kicks for Boro and replied to an early Sheffield penalty after the interval.

But then the visitors took control, adding three tries and two conversions.

Stockton moved above Boro into fifth place after a 26-26 draw at home to Horden, for whom Glen Bowman scored the equalising try with seven minutes left.

Stockton drove back up field and had a try disallowed when their own touch judge ruled that a player had put a foot in touch.

Both sides scored four tries and three conversions, and it looked like being Stockton's day when they turned round to face the wind 21-5 ahead and quickly went further in front. But poor defence saw them concede tries to Andrew Raine and Chris Purvis and things looked ominous when Alan Brown retired with a leg injury with 20 minutes left.

Horden scored first through Andrew Turner when a Stockton move broke down with full back Lee Richardson in the line.

But Richardson, Simon Crozier and Steve Thornton scored before half-time, with Simon Moore adding two conversions, then Richardson scored again.

Redcar recorded their second victory when they won 24-3 at home to bottom club Scarborough, scoring four tries through Sabien Busson, Neil Young, Paul Williams and Kevin Jones, who added two conversions.

Westoe winger Neil Wilson scored two tries in their fifth successive league win as they eased home 20-8 win at Goole to stay third in the table.

Hartlepool Rovers maintained their 100 per cent record in Durham and Northumberland Division One when they won 20-3 at Ryton. Tries were scored by Simon Rutherford, Andrew Lilley and Phil Hall, who added a penalty and a conversion.

Durham City moved off the bottom with an encouraging 28-19 win at home to third-placed Northern, while there was also a first win for Northallerton in Yorkshire Two. Richard Padgett and Brian Tucker scored their tries in a 20-6 home win against Ilkley.