DARLINGTON MOWDEN PARK’S relegation fears have eased significantly in the wake of their weekend win at Leeds Tykes.

Mowden claimed a much-needed 23-22 win in West Yorkshire, with the victory lifting them to a healthy 11th position in the National One table.

The Darlington side looked in trouble as their form stuttered in the first half of the season, but they have improved markedly since the turn of the year, with their latest success providing further proof of their positive progress.

“We targeted this Leeds game as one of our biggest tests in the remaining games of this season,” said Mowden forwards coach Joe Cain. “The lads prepared well in the week and we tried to keep things simple in terms of a game-plan.

“To come away with the win in the fashion we did shows as a group how we’ve grown as, at the start of the season, we would have come up on the wrong side of that.”

The first half of Saturday’s game was largely dominated by Mowden, who enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and territory.

A Ben Frankland try, combined with 11 points from the boot of Oscar Yandall, saw the visitors open up a 16-point lead heading towards the interval, before a Toby Ademakin try with the final play of the half gave Leeds hope of a second-half comeback.

In a stark contrast to the first 40, it was Leeds who came out firing after half-time and ran in three unanswered tries to take an unlikely lead. Replacement scrum-half Will Hardwick crossed either side of winger Seremai Turagabeci’s try in the corner, but crucially none of their three second-half scores were converted, leaving the hosts just six points ahead heading into the closing stages.

Mowden showed great application to get themselves back into the game despite injuries in key positions, and talisman Tongan lock Talite Vaioleti squeezed over late on to draw the North-East side to within one point.

Yandall converted to maintain his 100 per cent record off the tee, and Leeds’ lack of a recognised goal kicker would haunt them further when a late penalty attempt drifted wide from Turagabeci, much to the relief of a large travelling contingent from DMP.

Mowden’s accuracy in a number of key areas proved vital, and Cain was happy with some stand-out individual performances.

“George Shannon at hooker threw very well all game into the lineout, and Oscar Yandall kicking 100 per cent, five out of five, off the tee was probably the ultimate difference between us and Leeds,” he said.

Mowden will be hoping to string together back-to-back wins when they welcome Tonbridge Juddians to the Arena this Saturday in a 2.30pm kick-off.

“We’re really looking forward to being back at home this week against Tonbridge, and hopefully we can kick on now into the remainder of games this season and get some good results,” said Cain.