THE gap between the Darlington clubs is likely to widen to two divisions next season on the evidence of Saturday's results.

Both are good enough to hold their own at a higher level, but only one team goes up from North Two (East) and that will be Halifax.

They won 13-9 at Darlington on Saturday, while Mowden Park cruised to a 36-3 win in their North One battle at home to supposed promotion rivals Chester.

With leaders Blaydon struggling to win 20-14 at home to Middlesbrough, Mowden must be clear favourites to win the title.

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

They needed to move the ball wide, but weren't helped by the second half drizzle, and a lack of pace in midfield was exposed by a well-organised defence.

The game's most telling injection of pace came from the impressive Halifax full back Aaron Canning, who broke from his own 22 shortly after half-time.

It took a last-ditch tackle by David 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.

It was 6-6 at half-time, Glendenning's second penalty being an excellent effort from wide out on the left.

With Phil Lancaster struggling to shake off flu - he made way for John Coleby at half-time - Darlington were always under pressure in the scrums and were less secure than their visitors at the line-out.

They also failed to capitalise on five minutes of pressure at the start when making a hash of a simple attempt to kick a penalty to the corner.

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.

Robbie Stewart brought fresh bite when replacing skipper David Andrew at scrum half with 30 minutes left, but the closest Darlington came to scoring was when running three penalties close to the line with eight minutes remaining.

With hindsight, it would have been wiser to kick the first and get the gap down to one point in the hope of creating some panic in the watertight Halifax defence.

Mowden's performance was described as their best since losing to Harlequins in the Tetley's Bitter Cup last season as they ran Chester ragged.

After a slow start, Mowden were galvanised into a display of passion and intensity by the sin-binning of Aaron Radaelli after 20 minutes and scrum half Phil Harvey five minutes later.

The first was for a late tackle, the second for back-chat, and the Radaelli incident also allowed Chester to take a 3-0 lead.

For the rest of the match they were blown away, however, as Mowden ran everything at them, prop Dave Sinclair selling a dummy to put Kevan Oliphant over for the first try.

Sinclair plunged over for the second after a relentless series of attacks and from 12-3 at half-time Mowden scored immediately on the restart.

The ball was moved right then left from a scrum and Mark Bedworth came into the line from full back to score.

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

Blaydon struggled to beat Boro partly because they didn't have a fit hooker and lost six strikes against the head as well as struggling to hit their line-out men.

Scrum half Jon Wrigley darted over for a try after only a minute for Boro, but Blaydon came back when Soa Otuvaka picked up from a scrum and good handling saw centre John Marriott race over.

Ryan Roberts converted and added a penalty right on half-time after Ian Wilson had put Boro back in front with a penalty.

The lead continued to change hands as Boro fly half Ashley Parker landed a drop goal then Blaydon drove on from a line-out and recycled three times for winger Andy Savory to score. Roberts converted and added a drop goal via the bar with five minutes left.

Injury-hit Stockton competed well but gave away three sloppy tries in losing 33-11 at home to Driffield.

Two penalties by Jeremy Good put them 6-0 up and they were only 10-6 down at half-time. But two more tries killed them off before winger Pedro Salahshouri replied.

Hooker Danny Muirhead suffered a knee injury but hopes to be fit for the derby at Middlesbrough next Saturday.

There is no sign of an end to West Hartlepool's woes as they lost 47-5 at home to Esher in National Division Two, managing only an injury time try from impressive lock Andrew Davies. They visit second-placed Harrogate next Saturday, with their best chance of breaking their duck coming the following week at home to Lydney, who are just above them.

Westoe maintained their 100 per cent record at the top of Durham and Northumberland One with three tries in a 23-12 home win against Hartlepool Rovers.

Consett are second, underlining their progress with a 25-22 win at Horden, and Durham City are third after coming back from 13-0 down at half-time to draw 13-13 at Ryton. Nick Howe landed the equalising penalty in the last minute of normal time. Barnard Castle went to the top of division three as they laid down the law with a 50-0 win away to Durham Constabulary, while Bishop Auckland won 46-15 at home to Jarrovians