Darlington welcome back fly half Paul Lee today for the first time since he was punched in the eye against Huddersfield on October 21.

Lee's vision was affected and the need to put his career in the Fire Service first raised doubts about his future in the game.

But he returns for the home game against Morpeth, one week ahead of the Durham Cup second round match away to his former club, Stockton.

Lee's brother Craig has been deputising at fly half, but now reverts to centre, where he will be partnered by Leigh Johnson, with Mark Butler switching to the wing.

Player-coach Phil Lancaster steps down in order to field a front row with an average age of 20, featuring Dan Miller, Joe Osleton and hooker Rob Goddard.

With 19-year-old Richard Snowball continuing to impress at lock, it's just as well Darlington have flanker Bryan Dixon to keep a paternal eye on things.

In the league above, North One, leaders Darlington Mowden Park are also at home and have spent £700 to have their ground verti-drained following the postponement of last week's match against Blaydon.

As they have been unable to fill a vacant date in the calendar next week following Ryton's withdrawal from the county cup, Mowden are anxious not to have another blank day today.

While Mowden have a 100 per cent record, visitors Northern are on minus two points, having won one of their 13 games and had four points deducted.

It had been intended to give a few fringe players an outing in the pack, but as this is now Mowden's only game in a three-week spell it has been decided to keep the regular forwards sharp.

Danny Brown is available as the Newcastle Falcons' Development XV match has been postponed, so he will be on the bench with Shaun Cassidy and player-coach Kevan Oliphant.

Although Oliphant is keen to play at least one more season, Mowden are looking to the future by selecting Jonny Golightly at fly half. Anthony Elwine and Mark Bedworth are at centre as Ross Jennings' registration has not yet gone through, and there will soon be competition in the backs as Matt Howland is back in full training. He could make his comeback for the seconds against Darlington next week.

Coach Dave Mitchell is also ready to play after his pre-season chemotherapy treatment and today's game had been pencilled in for a possible comeback.

But he is more than happy with the current back row of Tony Irwin, Darren McKinnon and Aaron Radaelli, and with Cassidy and Del Russell in reserve there is no shortage of back row men.

With nine league games left, and the Durham Cup semis and final due to be played on Saturdays, Mowden will be kept going until at least April 28.

They might have to wait longer than that before Blaydon can visit them, unless both reach the county cup final and decide to play the league game on the day scheduled for the final, April 7.

But they would be unlikely to make it a league and cup double-header as the county are keen to have the final at a neutral venue this season.

Newcastle Falcons need to win at home to Bath tomorrow to boost their chances of a top four finish, which would earn them a home draw in the Zurich Championship play-offs.

A top eight place looks well within reach as the Falcons are currently sixth and have two games in hand on Gloucester and Bristol, two of the teams just below them, while Sale, in eighth place, still have to visit Kingston Park.

But to have any chance of climbing into the top four they will have to win their four home games - Harlequins and London Irish are the other visitors - and also win at Rotherham at the start of a hectic period on April 10. With trips to Saracens and Wasps following in the eight days after Rotherham they will then have only four days before the European Shield semi-final against Harlequins.

The Falcons lost 19-12 at Bath in September, but tomorrow's visitors had not experienced much joy on previous visits to Newcastle until they won 20-16 last season.

The game presents a big opportunity for England Under 21 squad man Rob Devonshire to stake another claim for a place in the Falcons' line-up for the Tetley's Bitter Cup final in two weeks.

l Newcastle's £8m development plans were unanimously approved by Newcastle City Council yesterday.

Delighted Director of Rugby Rob Andrew described it as "a huge step forward."

l A book has been published telling the full, amazing story of how Newcastle took the professional game by storm and have gone on to consolidate their position as a leading club.

Written by Alan Hedley, a journalist who has covered the club's fortunes for 25 years, The Newcastle Rugby Story (Tempus Publishing, £12.99) glosses over the first 118 years of the club's history before covering the professional era in detail.

It reminds us how close some Newcastle players were to joining West Hartlepool just before Sir John Hall's arrival on the scene, and provides a fascinating insight into how the club has progressed under Rob Andrew, who has written the foreword.