TWO things at least became clear in North Division One on Saturday. Middlesbrough are relegated after their 29-21 defeat at Chester, while Darlington cannot catch second-placed Hull Ionians, despite winning 40-10 at Aspatria.

The defeat for Aspatria further clouds other issues as they are now in danger of relegation and still have five games to fit in as well as the Cumbria Cup final on April 20.

That means their visit to Middlesbrough will be put back to April 27 and their trip to Darlington in May will clash with a county match.

Darlington will almost certainly finish fourth whatever happens, but if they field a weakened side against Aspatria it could affect the relegation issue.

Darlington have seven players in the county squad - Dan Miller, Phil Lancaster, Craig Lee, Martin Howe, Del Lewis, David Glendenning and Rob Stewart.

They might feel they can beat the Cumbrians with a weakened side after crushing them on Saturday, when the pack kept going forward.

Richard Snowball and Paul Radford dominated the line-out and the back row was excellent, with Del Lewis standing off and making ground while Martin Howe often made breaks out wide.

Young fly half Ian Dobson fitted in well, and centre Simon White had a good first half before retiring with an Achilles problem to be replaced by Mark Butler.

Darlington had twice driven over and been held up before Miller got the ball down for the first try after 15 minutes.

The other five tries came from the backs, with full back Glendenning scoring two and adding five conversions.

His first followed a break by White, the conversion making it 14-0 before Aspatria kicked a penalty on half-time.

Butler caught a high ball at full stretch and gave a quick pass to set up the third try, with winger Frankie Coulson going through a small gap to race 35 metres to the corner.

A crunching tackle by Howe prevented an Aspatria try before a good move involving Dobson and Craig Lee ended with Glendenning brushing off two tackles to go under the posts.

Aspatria's one try made it 26-10 with 12 minutes left, but the rest of the match was played in their 22. Butler crashed through the middle to score, then Stewart dummied and nipped through to the line from 15 metres.

Middlesbrough were well on top at Chester but missed four penalties before the hosts broke out of their own half for the first time and scored.

A dubious penalty try made it 12-0 at half-time before Steve Wallis scored a converted try, only for Chester to score again.

With lock Ian Robinson playing well, Boro came back and skipper Richard McRae broke from a scrum 30 metres out and inter-passed with Jonathan Wrigley, who touched down. But Chester's third try meant it was too late when prop Chris Horton scored for Boro near the end.

West Hartlepool recorded their first away win since December, 1999 when they won 31-17 at Sandal in the battle of two relegated clubs in National Three North.

West now have the chance to climb off the bottom in their last match at home to Tynedale, who lost 33-15 at home to Doncaster.

West were 10-0 down after nine minutes but showed great spirit to lead 28-10 at half-time following tries by Brett Cullinane, Gareth Kerr and Henry Tones, plus two conversions and three penalties by John Stabler. The coach added another penalty after 72 minutes .

Blaydon snatched an 18-15 win at Nuneaton with a penalty by James Lofthouse in the fifth minute of injury time.

The forwards worked hard into the wind to set up a 12-3 interval lead, with former Mowden Park hooker Tasi Tuhana powering over for a try.

Nuneaton scored a try before Lofthouse kicked a penalty for a 15-8 lead, only for the hosts to score a converted try to level the scores in injury time to set up the final drama for Lofthouse.

In North Two East Stockton won 32-14 at home to Wheatley Hills, with pushover tries by back row men Phil Austen and Alan Brown helping them to an 18-7 interval lead after playing into the wind.

One of several strikes against the head by Danny Muirhead also led to a try for winger Andy Bare following a huge pass by Brown.

Dave Turner added a penalty and converted both second half tries. For the first winger Simon Crozier broke from his own half and linked with centre Steve Thornton before lock Keith Etherington appeared on the outside to score. Then Thornton crashed through three tackles from 20 metres out to score.

Westoe lost 26-20 at Goole and were overhauled in fourth place by Redcar, who won 39-24 at home to Old Crossleyans through tries by Mark Poulson (2), Paul Beal, Martin Challenor, Alan Dixon and Fabean Busson.

Horden made virtually certain of promotion from Durham and Northumberland Division One with a 50-18 home win in the top-of-the-table match against Ashington.

Playing good, expansive rugby, Horden scored seven tries, including one by full back Paul Bruce, who had an excellent game and collected 20 points.

Centre David Grand scored twice, there was a penalty try and Andrew Raine, John Paul and Darren Greenlaw also touched down.