HAVING taken Darlington Mowden Park to the wire last week in the North East, Hoppers were nowhere near as effective in this league encounter at Lightfoot Green.

They made a bright start with Paul Bailey, Gary Monaghan and Oliver Viney prominent, but the cutting edge was missing.

Hoppers' pack was under pressure from the start and the back row was decimated when Danny Badham exited early through injury, later joined by Rob Parkinson.

Hoppers found themselves 19-3 down at half-time, the only home points coming from a penalty by Sengili Tuihalamaka.

Hoppers pack strove manfully in the second-half and the backs thrived in a five-minute purple patch which brought two tries.

Monaghan raced in for the first after a break by Bailey, and Viney scored a second. Tuihalamaka converted one to reduce the arrears to four points.

But any prospect of a comeback disappeared when Anton Cramont was shown a yellow card.

Dixon claimed his second try for Park which he converted and then cancelled out a Tuihalamaka penalty with a similar effort.

Robinson's second try completed a miserable afternoon for Hoppers, but they have no match on Saturday which gives them breathing space to get over injuries.

Preston Grasshoppers 18 Darlington Mowden Park 34

PRESTON Grasshoppers' John Nuttall has been banned for six weeks after being found guilty of stamping.

The forward was sent off for the incident which took place during the 2nd XV derby clash with Fylde on September 7.