Darlington 31, Driffield 10 - THE promotion pot is still simmering, but Darlington might need to improve on Saturday's showing if they are to win their next two games away to sides struggling against relegation.

The rearranged match at Bradford and Bingley this week pits them against a side who have recruited from Leeds Tykes and will feel they are due a break after losing their last two matches by two points.

Playing only four games in a ten-week period from mid-December to mid-February did Darlington no favours, and after recent examples of dominating the first half without due reward there was a danger of a repeat against Driffield.

A 17-10 interval lead did not reflect their superiority, so they had to buckle down and rely on three penalties by David Glendenning to make the game safe.

Because of a fumble here and a poor pass there, several flashes of first half brilliance came to nothing and what threatened to be a memorable performance ultimately was not.

But the future continues to look bright, with teenagers Tom Wilkinson and Dan Osleton going on for the last 15 minutes, when Osleton in particular looked very comfortable alongside his brother Joe in the front row.

Darlington appear to be missing the blistering pace of winger Paul Beattie, who is on Fire Service training, and both the tries they scored in the first 20 minutes came from close range.

A throw to Martin Howe at the tail of the line-out led to the first, with Bryan Dixon driving on before the ball was released into midfield and a maul was rolled to the line for scrum half Rob Stewart to plunge over.

Driffield replied with a penalty and on the restart Dixon and Del Lewis made ground and things were starting to click as the ball was moved right then left.

The visiting full back illegally stopped the flow and was yellow carded, only for Glendenning's penalty to hit a post.

Darlington gathered the rebound, won a scrum and Dixon picked up for Lewis to crash through a tackle and score.

Glendenning added his second conversion and the scene looked set for a carnival. But the next ten minutes were typified by brilliant work up the right by Craig Lee and Lewis being ruined by a poor pass to winger Tony Taylor when the ball was moved left.

Glendenning kicked a penalty from under the posts, but just before half-time Driffield drove a maul over in the right corner and added the conversion to trail by only seven points.

To Darlington's credit, Driffield never seriously threatened again as the hosts imposed a stranglehold which involved few frills.

A flick pass by Glendenning to Taylor could have led to a try had Driffield not killed the ball when the winger kicked ahead, while Howe almost got over in the left corner after a quickly-taken penalty.

But the only second half try came five minutes from time when Craig Lee took another quick penalty, Lewis made ground and Paul Lee swept through a huge gap to score.