BLAYDON blew a 30-19 half-time lead to lose 35-30 at Cinderford, but the two bonus points they earned kept them ahead of National Two relegation rivals Westcombe Park.

Blaydon will be safe if they win at home to bottom club Waterloo this week and Westcombe Park lose at Blackheath.

Otherwise it will go to the final match, when the Crow Trees men visit Stourbridge.

Blaydon had their four-try bonus in the bag by half-time, but with eight regular squad men missing they failed to stay the pace.

Late withdrawals included flankers Scott Riddell and Will Welch, and with Peter Browne required by Newcastle his Falcons colleague Ross Batty, normally a hooker, had to play as a flanker.

But when he was injured in the second half Blaydon finished the game with young lock Andrew Archibald and the 6ft 9in David Sheldon in the back row.

Stand-in captain Andrew Baggett played well at full back and Steve Trench was outstanding in the second row, but poor tackling allowed Cinderford to score three first half tries.

Blaydon still managed to forge ahead as Batty linked up with a flowing backs move to score, while winger Brendon Daniel cleverly finished a move which began in their own half and centre Paddy Dias shot through a gap to touch down.

In the absence of Martin Shaw and Adam Dehaty, James Clark was given a rare start at centre and grabbed the fourth try just before half-time. Fly half Rory Clegg completed Blaydon’s haul with two conversions and two penalties.

They hung on for 20 minutes in the second half, but the game turned when Cinderford brought on England Under 20s fly half Freddie Burns.

Two penalties in the last five minutes gave them victory, but they missed a third which could have denied Blaydon a bonus point.

Tynedale’s long unbeaten home run ended when they lost 45-22 to Birmingham and Solihull, for whom winger Simon Hunt scored a hat-trick as they clinched the title.

The visitors led 24-8 at half-time, and despite a try in each half from ex- Newcastle winger James Hoyle, Tynedale could not get back into the game. Scrum half Ross Sansom scored a late consolation try in his last appearance at Corbridge before joining Edinburgh.

Westoe secured the North One title with a 43-17 win at Beverley, achieving national league status for the first time.

Winger Willie Moala scored two tries to take his tally to 30 and with hooker Peter Tennet and winger Graeme Haswell also touching down Westoe led 29-0 at half-time.

They went on to make it 19 wins out of 22, despite a fightback by Beverley, which was stalled by Westoe centre James Fitzpatrick bursting from his own half to score. Fly half Ashley Moeke dummied his way over and added his fifth conversion.

Knowing they would finish fifth whatever happened, Middlesbrough ended their programme on a low note with an 18-0 home defeat by West Hartlepool.

It was only West’s second away win and among their three try scorers was former Boro lock Iain Robinson, who appeared on an overlap.

Boro were held up over the line during early pressure and later had a try by replacement Callum Campbell disallowed for obstruction.

Otherwise their young backs had few chances behind a pack who fell below recent standards. A Paul Moss penalty put West ahead and proved the only successful kick of the game.

No 8 Paul Vinnicombe charged up the touchline to score from a line-out and it remained 8-0 until five minutes from time. Robinson’s try followed good work by Jamie Connolly, who scored himself in injury time following an impressive charge and off-load by Dan Boatman.

Darlington’s relegation was confirmed by a 21-5 defeat at Birkenhead Park, although they competed to the end in a match they might have lost by 50 points two months ago.

An early try by centre Andrew Pugh was disallowed when he got the ball down but by the time the referee arrived the hosts had turned him.

Birkenhead scored a well-worked try but Darlington drew level when scrum half Sean Richardson looped round his brother, Lee, to score in the corner.

A converted try made it 12-5 at halftime and Darlington had to spend most of their time defending when playing into the wind. Three Birkenhead penalties completed the scoring.

Billingham’s 33-12 win at home to Carlisle was not enough to secure the promotion play-off place in North Two East as Old Crossleyans finished second after a 24-13 win at Durham City.

In Dave Robinson’s last game as captain, Billingham led 26-0 at half-time before injuries took their toll. The Evans were prominent with tries from Andrew, Paul and Mike, plus a conversion by Joe.

The Hyndman brothers also took a big hand, Chris expertly capitalising on a break by Paul Shepherd from his own 22, while Anth set up Paul Evans’ try.

Hartlepool Rovers were confirmed as Durham and Northumberland Division One champions when they won 56-34 at Sunderland, who will finish bottom.

Andrew Lilley and Stewart Grazier scored two tries each for Rovers, others coming from Steve Jones, Michael Taylor and Gareth Foreman.