AFTER the prospect of further Tetley's Bitter Cup glamour ended in controversial defeat last Saturday, Darlington Mowden Park must lift themselves for their most crucial match of the season tomorrow.

If they can win away to unbeaten North Division One leaders Blaydon they will be firmly on course for their fourth successive promotion.

Mowden again proved they are worthy of a place in the national leagues when they lost their fourth round cup tie 16-10 at Birmingham and Solihull.

Victory would have earned them a trip to last season's European champions Northampton, where a big crowd would have earned them at least a £20,000 share of the gate money.

Even before counting the cost in financial terms, Mowden were fuming that they had been denied a penalty try in the dying seconds. The conversion from under the posts would have put them into the last 16 for the second successive season.

Scrum half Phil Harvey charged down an attempted clearance about 15 metres out and was left with a clear route to the line.

He was five metres short and had only to tap the ball over the line and fall on it when he was pulled back from behind.

"We thought it should have been a penalty try, but the referee said it was too late in the game to make such a controversial decision," he said.

London Society referee Chris Rees amazingly awarded a scrum to Birmingham. They won it, cleared to touch and the whistle went for full time.

Having fought magnificently against a team three divisions above them in National One, some Mowden players were distraught.

Although lock Steve Sanderson was outstanding, Mowden were outplayed at the line-out and they were under pressure from the home pack for 45 minutes in the middle of the match as a 7-0 lead became a 16-7 deficit.

But it was a huge testament to their fitness that they staged a tremendous rally in the last ten minutes and there could have been few complaints from the hosts had Mowden won.

They also started well, going ahead with a try after six minutes. Fly half Kevan Oliphant broke to the right from a ruck in midfield and linked with full back Kevin McCallum, who glided through a gap to send winger Chris Mattison scampering over.

Oliphant converted and it took 25 minutes for the home forwards to exert some control.

Their backs posed little threat, so they concentrated on driving round the fringes, testing the defence of the excellent Mowden back row to the limit.

It was inevitable that penalties would be conceded under the pressure and two were kicked to reduce the gap to one point at half-time.

There was no let-up and Mowden collapsed a maul near the line on the restart, with a warning that the culprit would be sin-binned if it happened again. It duly did, and surprisingly it was winger Scott Thompson who had to sit things out for ten minutes.

Home full back Jim Quantrill missed a penalty before Mowden showed they could be dangerous on the break as Oliphant launched a thrilling move which took them almost the length of the field.

But midway through the half Quantrill landed a simple penalty to put Birmingham ahead, then replacement scrum half Paul Lydster gave them an extra cutting edge.

Last season's leading try scorer went close with a darting run from a tap penalty, then burrowed over from a ruck after the forwards had driven for the line several times. Quantrill converted to make it 16-7 with eight minutes of normal time remaining, but Mowden came straight back.

With Danny Brown on at prop for Ian Keeligan and Ian James for lock Jason Malcolm, Sanderson almost got over following a penalty to the corner. Then Oliphant kicked a penalty to ensure that a converted try would be enough for victory.

Mattison went close after a good passing move, then they ran a penalty from 30 metres out with Tasi Tuhana and replacement back row man Will Mawby making ground. That took them into the right corner, where Birmingham's desperate attempt to clear led to Harvey's charge down.

He looked certain to score, but the referee decided it was not certain enough to warrant a penalty try - a ruling with which even the Birmingham officials could not agree.

Darlington's rearranged match at home to York in North Division Two East was postponed because the flood-bound visitors were unable to travel.

Darlington thirds beat Barnard Castle seconds 56-13 after going 10-0 down.

Playing downhill in the first half, they lacked control through being too anxious to score, but they came back to lead 21-13 at the break and controlled the second half.

Fly half Brian Alston converted all eight tries, scoring one himself while the others came from Brian Sunderland (2), Leigh Johnson, Allan Calvert, Doug Thompson, Tony Williams and Alex Smith.

The fourths lost 35-0 to Shildon after lending a player to their opponents and losing another with a cut head.

Both Bishop Auckland teams were left without matches. Houghton were unable to raise a side and Newton Aycliffe's pitch was too wet to stage the second team match.

Bishops are to stage a commemorative match on Sunday in honour of Paul Fitt, whose recent sudden death shocked former team-mates at Shildon, Newton Aycliffe and Bishop Auckland. The match will kick off at 11am