York's 43-0 defeat at Clifton Park by second-placed Darlington could be represented as a miner triumph as their visit before Christmas to the Durham club resulted in a 93 points hammering.

This time York fielded a rather stronger side, but like in their last league game at Goole, the opposition were out of sight before York got any real grip on the game.

As ever, the key to York's fortunes was their ability to retain possession.

When this function operated well, York were able to unsettle a much bigger and faster team but, all too often, they lost the ball and, in truth, Darlington were probably good enough to win without gifts.

After the recent dry spell, the York pitch was in excellent condition for an open game and within five minutes, the visitors stated their intentions by swinging the ball out to the left wing for it to be worked across right for full-back Dave Glendenning to dive over near the corner for a try he could not convert.

York were under considerable pressure as Darlington attacked with skipper David Andrews' pace at scrum-half providing the sort of springboard one might expect from a brother of the famous former England star, Rob.

Nevertheless, James Arkle earned relief with a long kick out of defence and Andy Hurst, unprofitably shifted from centre to wing, picked up a loose ball to embark on a characteristic weaving run down the middle.

However, after 20 minutes, Andrews soon restored the pattern when he stole away to kick through for winger Mark Potts to hack up to the York line, where York were forced to concede a scrum from which the ball was spun out for centre Leigh Johnson to crash over for an unconverted try.

Within minutes Darlington extended their lead when flanker Martin Howe sold a huge dummy to race clear and put centre Craig Lee in for a try which Glendenning converted to give his team a 17-0 advantage.

York's woe was compounded when Darlington's powerful Number 8, Del Lewis, charged for the line from 30 metres out and was hauled down just short of a score so that prop Joe Oselton only had to collect and dive over for the try which Glendenning converted to take them in to the interval with a 24-0 lead.

Afterwards, Andrews made an early threat to the York defence but the home side began to assert themselves, with back rowers Nick Smart and skipper Jeremy Clutton, powerful beyond his size, showing the lead and, with lock Matt Halifax, took the game to the opposition.

This restricted Darlington's fluency and they became error prone which enabled York to spend more time in their opponents half, especially as fly half Craig Ventress, used his boot effectively.

Inevitably, after 15 minutes, Andrews and Lewis restored Darlington's ascendancy as they combined to put winger Mark Butler away. He collected his own chip ahead to score an unconverted try.

Although York continued to compete valiantly, their scrum was under increasing pressure and they conceded two further converted tries. Firstly, when Lewis picked up a loose ball and charged over from 15 metres out, then, when Howe chased a grubber kick to outpace the York defence.

An Old Crossleyans victory at Redcar left York further adrift at the foot of the table as they contemplate a visit from runaway leaders Halifax a week on Saturday.

Updated: 13:30 Monday, February 26, 2001