Rugby: Mowden Park on high but Darlington hopes jolted

On the strength of that performance they can be expected to win their third round cup tie at home to North Walsham, of National Division Three South.

Mowden must now be clear favourites to win North One and go into National Three North next season after thrashing the only team to beat them in a league match in the last two years.

The next big league test will be away to leaders Blaydon on November 11, although Mowden could be visiting Northampton in the cup that day if they beat North Walsham then win at either Birmingham and Solihull or Orrell on November 4.

Some officials will be hoping the cup run ends in the fourth round as they already have three league matches to rearrange and will have to go through the season without a break from competitive rugby.

Darlington's hopes of promotion to North One suffered a big setback when they lost 13-9 at home to leaders Halifax on Saturday.

They now desperately need to win at home to their other main rivals, Huddersfield, tomorrow.

In a match marred by the fear of losing, Darlington struggled to win good possession against Halifax, and although they had a chance to snatch victory towards the end they could have no complaints.

They knew they needed to move the ball away from the strong Halifax forwards, but with the visitors playing the offside law to its limits the home backs rarely found any fluency.

After playing into the breeze, Darlington would be happy to turn round at 6-6, but they weren't helped by the second half drizzle.

Player-coach Craig Lee had a rare off-day at centre as he struggled in vain to find a way through a well-organised defence.

With the more experienced Simon White preferred to Kieron Thompson at centre, there was a lack of pace in midfield and full back David Glendenning was entrusted with the kicking.

The second of his three penalties was an excellent effort from wide out on the left, but he made a hash of an early attempt to kick a penalty into the right corner.

The hope was that Darlington would win the line-out and drive over for a try to reward the dominance they enjoyed for five minutes after Halifax kicked off straight into touch.

But the chance was gone and it quickly became obvious that Halifax were stronger in the scrums and more secure at the line-out, where Darlington were relying on 18-year-old Richard Snowball as Sandy Fitzpatrick was unavailable.

It was always going to be a tight game and the deadlock was broken by the pace of impressive Halifax full back Aaron Canning, who broke from his own 22 shortly after half time.

He linked with the left winger and it took a last-ditch tackle by Glendenning to prevent a try, but Halifax kept the pressure on and centre Robert Thompson skipped out of a tackle to go under the posts for the decisive score.

Darlington's best chance came after half an hour when Glendenning went down the middle after a line-out, and when the ball came back a clever pass appeared to have created an overlap on the left. But Craig Lee cut back inside.

The other player-coach, Phil Lancaster, was struggling to shake off flu and was replaced by John Coleby at half-time, while Del Lewis went on for No 8 Bryan Dixon and Robbie Stewart replaced skipper David Andrew at scrum half with 30 minutes left.

Stewart's sniping carried some threat and he almost made the line after prop Joe Osleton broke the first line of defence from a tap penalty with eight minutes left.

Two more penalties were awarded in quick succession and from five metres out Darlington ran both without seriously threatening to get over.

Darlington seconds won 28-17 against Hartlepool Rovers, surviving a stern test against a heavier pack.

Former Sandal winger James Diamond scored two tries, fellow winger Tony Taylor also scored, while Marc Potts and Kieron Thompson shared three penalties and two conversions.

Tom de la Motte broke a finger while touching down a disallowed try.

The thirds won 23-5 in a scrappy game away to Billingham seconds. Tries came from Peter Beecroft, Brian Alston, Jim Cunningham and Ben Usher, with Alston adding a penalty.

The fourths lost 17-15 to Billingham thirds, despite tries from Lloyd, Bristow and Carver. Two conversions were missed from under the posts.

Mowden's performance was described by club stalwart John Wilson as their best since losing to Harlequins in the Tetley's Bitter Cup fifth round last season.

As in the match at Blackwell Meadows, the fear of losing was obvious in the first 20 minutes. But having two men sent to the sin-bin suddenly ignited Mowden.

Aaron Radaelli was sent for ten minutes in the cooler for a late tackle, which also allowed Chester to take a 3-0 lead.

Then scrum half Phil Harvey followed five minutes later for back-chat to the referee and Mowden were briefly down to 13 men.

But they almost scored in that period as Steve Sanderson was driven over from a line-out. But the referee was unsighted and disallowed the try.

Finding new reserves of passion and intensity, Mowden ran everything in the last ten minutes of the first half and even went ahead after losing a strike against the head.

The Chester No 8 picked up from the scrum but was tackled and Tasi Tuhana claimed the ball before his front row colleague Dave Sinclair sold a dummy and sent Kevan Oliphant over for the try.

Sinclair plunged over for the second after a series of attacks started in Mowden's half and from 12-3 up at half-time they scored immediately on the restart.

Chester made a mess of collecting the kick-off and the ball was moved right then left from a scrum before Mark Bedworth came into the line from full back to score.

Danny Brown went on at prop for Ian Keeligan and, while a Chester prop was sin-binned for punching, Mowden scored a pushover try through Radaelli.

Bedworth took over the kicking from Oliphant and converted a Mick Kent try from the touchline. He was also on target after Oliphant followed up a Chris Mattison chip to score.

Brown's brother, Jonny, also came off the bench to replace Kent and Del Russell took over from Sanderson for the last 20 minutes.

Mowden seconds lost 12-6 at Middlesbrough, where Richard Scott kicked two penalties, while the thirds won 8-5 at home to Acklam seconds. Hooker Phil White scored a try and fly half Kirk Thompson landed a penalty