THE biggest cheer at Blaydon following their 33-11 victory against Macclesfield was reserved for the news of Tynedale's 19-10 home win against Nuneaton.

The previously unbeaten Midlanders are now only three points ahead of third-placed Blaydon, who still have to play them twice.

In fact, it promises to be a fascinating end to the season for Blaydon, who entertain Nuneaton then visit Tynedale in their last two matches.

But Blaydon will have to maintain their promotion challenge without back row man Ed Thorpe, who scored two tries on Saturday but is leaving shortly to live in New Zealand.

They had to work hard to shake off Macclesfield, who were only 14-11 down at half-time but finally succumbed to the power of the home pack.

Blaydon were ahead in the second minute after a powerful rolling maul took them to the 22, then after a penalty to the corner they moved the ball along the line and back again for Thorpe to score.

Dan Clappison converted but Macclesfield kicked two penalties before Blaydon scored again after 37 minutes.

Flanker Pat Segi broke off the back of a line-out to send his brother, Sua, over. But Macclesfield came straight back and a clever chip over a flat defence produced a try.

Blaydon scored three unanswered tries in the second half, starting when full back Michael Campbell raced 70 metres from his own 22. He was stopped on the line and when the ball ran loose Martin Shaw was pulled back as he was about to drop on it and a penalty try was awarded.

Shaw then made a break and winger Andrew Fenby finished well from 20 metres for his seventh try in six games, and finally Thorpe scored from a maul near the posts.

Tynedale were well-organised and fully committed against bigger opponents as they came back superbly from handing Nuneaton an early 5-0 lead when former England full back Tim Stimpson came into the line.

Despite dominating the next 20 minutes, Tynedale conceded a second try before opening their account by driving hooker Chris Small over from a line-out.

A repeat in the second half following a penalty to the corner put them ahead as Phil Belgian converted, then he broke through the middle and kicked another penalty to the corner.

This time the maul went down but Tynedale whipped the ball out for winger Hamish Smales to spin out of a tackle to score, Belgian again converting.

Whether Darlington can climb any higher than sixth place will be decided in the next two weeks as they host Preston Grasshoppers, who are five points ahead of them, on Saturday then visit Tynedale, who are fifth.

No 8 Alan Brown twice drove over to stretch his lead as National Three North's top try-scorer as Darlington won 48-0 at home to Leicester Lions after leading 38-0 at half-time.

The first of the eight tries came after three minutes, when winger Adam Kibirige finished a good backs move.

Then Brown went over for his 18th of the season before lock Richard Snowball took an inside pass to go under the posts.

Flanker Michael Taylor finished off a forward move then good handling by the backs gave winger Simon Crozier a 20-metre run to the line.

Brown scored the final try of the half, with full back Lee Davies adding his fourth conversion.

The Lions raised their game after the break and applied some pressure, but good defence kept them out and when Darlington broke away Kibirige took an inside pass to race over.

Replacement back row man Del Lewis hacked on to score the final try after the visitors dropped the ball in midfield.

Middlesbrough dominated the second half at Birkenhead Park but had only a try to show for it in a 23-5 defeat which leaves them fourth from the bottom in North One and desperate to win at second-bottom Longton next Saturday.

Boro were slow to get going and gave away two early tries. The first stemmed straight from the kick-off, then after ten minutes the hosts intercepted on Boro's ten-metre line and although they were stopped they recycled the ball quickly to score.

Simon Moore missed two penalties for Boro and after 25 minutes a good try near the posts put them 17-0 behind.

They took the game to Park in the second half but squandered chances through mistakes and went further behind to a penalty against the run of play.

Finally centre Dave Richardson burst through to score with ten minutes left, but the hosts added another penalty with the last kick of the game.

Durham City remain third in North Two East after working hard for a 38-17 home win against a Morpeth side who led 17-14 early in the second half.

City's control up front proved decisive with three late tries after they managed only two penalties by James Walker and a drop goal by Nick Howe in the first half to trail 10-9.

Lock Chris Wearmouth scored the first of his two tries straight after the break, but Morpeth came back with a length-of-the-field try to regain the lead.

Walker kicked a penalty and converted tries by Wearmouth, Richard Knowles and Jeff Roberts as City forged ahead.

Stockton missed a chance to climb out of second bottom place when they gave away two soft tries and lost 21-16 at home to Sheffield.

They made a good start and deservedly led 13-3 at half-time, despite being without skipper Brett Wildridge and lock Mark Skirving.

Scrum half Peter Armstrong crossed after five minutes but was brought back for a forward pass and quickly made amends by darting over when Sheffield conceded a free-kick at the scrum.

Jeremy Good added a penalty before Sheffield replied, then after 30 minutes Wayne Brown picked up from a scrum 30 metres out and sent winger Tom Jeffery over in the left corner.

Sheffield landed their second penalty before Stockton centre Steve Thornton was sin-binned with 20 minutes left for retaliation after he was stamped on.

Either side of a further exchange of penalties, Sheffield scored two tries from long kicks.

In the first instance the clearance was delayed too long and charged down, then with the score 16-16 with four minutes left Stockton's clearance failed to find touch and Sheffield ran it back to score.

Alnwick pulled four points clear of Stockton with a 28-10 home win against Hartlepool Rovers, who were well beaten before Gareth Foreman scored their only try.

West Hartlepool won 63-8 away to bottom club Sandal, who at least managed to turn out 15 registered players.

West carried out coach Dave Stubbs' instructions to get the ball wide with the wingers scoring six of the ten tries - four to Chris Lambert and two for Danny Seagram.

Horden remain top of Durham and Northumberland One after a 63-3 win at bottom club Acklam, while Gosforth knocked visitors Sunderland off the top of division two with an 18-7 win.