ROB Stewart's harsh dismissal left a bitter taste after Darlington moved above visitors Macclesfield into third place in North Division One with a 28-6 win.

The match became niggly after the scrum half was sent off midway through the second half by a referee who had already made several laughable decisions.

Macclesfield had kicked the ball downfield and it was 40 yards away when the referee noticed that Stewart was involved in a fracas with two visiting players.

Others raced back to break it up and there was a secondary outbreak of sparring between some forwards before the referee brandished a red card to Stewart and a yellow one to his opposite number. It was a mystery how he came to that decision.

With the wind behind them, Macclesfield initially showed some signs of being able to overhaul an 18-0 half-time deficit, kicking two penalties and making a break which almost brought a try.

But Darlington nipped the fightback in the bud by scoring a good try after 55 minutes and the visitors became frustrated.

They had nothing more to offer in attack, even with a one-man advantage in the last ten minutes, and Darlington's pressure was rewarded when they scored from a free kick ten metres out.

They moved it left and when replacement Mark Butler was stopped just short Craig Lee, filling in at scrum half, nipped over.

Macclesfield had posed some early threat, attacking strongly through their left winger after charging down a kick.

They missed a simple penalty but were then twice penalised for pulling down scrums and David Glendenning put Darlington 3-0 ahead.

From the restart Darlington attacked down the right with winger Frankie Coulson making good ground. Dan Miller and Del Lewis drove on before fly half Paul Lee darted over on the blind side for a good try.

No 8 Lewis, who had an excellent game, took a short pass from a ruck 20 metres out to burst through one tackle and hold off another as he scored by the posts.

Glendenning's conversion made it 15-0 after 28 minutes and the referee's infatuation with crossing allowed him to add another penalty.

As the wind had dropped the lead looked sufficient, but doubts crept in as Macclesfield dominated the first 15 minutes of the second half.

Then Darlington ran a penalty 40 metres out, with Miller and Lewis both making ground before good handling on the right took them almost to the line. Phil Lancaster almost made it before hooker Rob Goddard squeezed in at the corner.

That was the killer blow and Macclesfield knew it. If either side deserved to have a player dismissed it was them.

Darlington are at home again next week to struggling Middlesbrough, whose home match against Aspatria was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch.

Neither Darlington Mowden Park nor Blaydon did West Hartlepool any favours in National Division Three North, losing to the teams who are third and fourth from the bottom.

Any hope of survival West might have had after the previous week's win against Whitchurch vanished as the Shropshire club won 18-16 at home to Blaydon.

That means West are back to being six points adrift of third bottom spot and their inability to stay the pace was again emphasised as a 5-0 lead just before half-time became a 46-5 defeat at Dudley Kingswinford.

Without skipper Dave Guthrie and lock Jason Oakes, Blaydon struggled up front at Whitchurch and trailed 15-8 at half-time.

A try by scrum half Andy Foreman and a penalty by Iain Dixon put them one point in front with six minutes left, but they then conceded a penalty near the posts.

Winger Paul Alexander raced over for Blaydon's other try just before half-time.

For the second successive week Mowden Park suffered a 20-point defeat in a match they had chances to win.

They were trailing only 10-5 at Bedford Athletic when a bad decision went against them just before half-time, and five minutes after the break they conceded a soft try through poor defence.

A penalty followed when hooker Tasi Tuhana was sin-binned and Bedford added a converted try near the end for a 27-5 victory.

They had also scored in the first five minutes, but Mowden came back strongly through good forward play, only to concede a penalty on halfway after 25 minutes. When they disputed the decision the extra ten metres allowed Bedford to kick the goal.

Mowden dominated the rest of the half but although Kevan Oliphant created plenty of chances poor handling outside him meant none were taken.

The only try came from a line-out drive, Darren McKinnon touching down. Then came the damaging decision when the Bedford right winger knocked the ball into touch three metres from his line and the referee awarded the throw-in to the hosts.

In North East Two Westoe knocked Huddersfield off top spot with a 12-12 home draw, full back Craig Stephenson kicking four penalties.

Morpeth remain third after halting Stockton's revival with a 34-12 home win. With the help of an interception try, the hosts' backs had them 19-0 up at half-time, then the forwards added a fourth try.

Stockton came back with tries from Lee Richardson and Keith Etherignton, plus a Dave Turner conversion, but home hooker Chris Pringle scored twice.

The top sides in the Durham and Northumberland Leagues enjoyed emphatic wins, Horden beating Gateshead 67-15 while division two leaders Acklam thrashed Medicals 92-17. Winger Steve Wallace scored six tries and player-coach Shaun Cassidy four.

Hartlepool, just below Acklam, won 67-30 at Blyth with scrum half Gareth Foreman scoring 35 points from five tries and five conversions.

Another high scorer was Hartlepool Rovers' Phil Hall with 19 points - a try, four penalties a conversion in a 29-14 win at Winlaton.

Northallerton's improvement continued in Yorkshire Two with an 18-0 win against Hemsworth, tries coming from Turner and Townend. Full back Ed Bulman also scored and added a penalty