HENLEY Hawks were unable to turn second-half dominance into points as they went down 19-11 to Darlington Mowden Park at Dry Leas.

The defeat leaves Hawks third from bottom in National League 1, having completed half of their league fixtures.

Their problems came at the very start when the visitors took advantage of hesitant defending.

On nine minutes, Robert Conquest grabbed the first of a brace of tries, with Warren Seals adding the extras.

The fly half then made it 12-0 when he crossed for an unconverted score.

Hawks began to make progress in the visitors’ half and Connor Murphy slotted a penalty from 40 metres.

Park struggled to contend with the Hawks forwards in set scrums and gave away a series of penalties.

But Henley fly half Ben Palmer missed touch on three occasions as they were unable to punish their opponents.

Palmer did make amends with a penalty to make it 12-6 on 30 minutes, but as half-time approached Conquest drove over for his second try.

Seals converted to put the visitors 19-6 ahead.

Hawks immediately established themselves in the opposition half, but for all their efforts they were able to only score one unconverted try.

Centre Liam O’Niell out-paced the defence to touch down.

Hawks went in search of more points, but could not add to the scoreline, Basil Strang coming closest when he was tackled ten metres short of the line.