Although still clear favourites to take the League title this year, Thornaby Mandale suffered their first defeat of the season at the hands of Redcar Coke Ovens.

Redcar Coke Ov. 4 v 0 Thornaby Mandale

Mandale found themselves a goal down when Graham Watson latched on to a long through ball before scoring from the edge of the area. Ten minutes later Coke Ovens increased their advantage when Anthony Gregory opened his account.

Things got even worse for Mandale on the half hour when Gregory beat two defenders before being brought down in the area. Lee Stephenson duly converted the spot kick. Mandale offered sterner resistance in the second half, but Gregory still managed to add a fourth goal ten minutes after the break.

St. Mary's College OB 2 v 1 Coulby Newham LF

With regular goalkeeper Malcolm Straker still on the injured list, 15-year-old son Thomas made his debut for the College turning an excellent performance between the sticks although he could do little when Richard May crossed for Stephen Fawcett to head Coulby Newham in front.

It was not until ten minutes from time that the College got some reward for their efforts when some good interplay ended with Tony McTaggart scoring from the edge of the area and then Dave Aspery tapped in from close range.

South Bank Utd. 5 v 2 The Grenadier

United made it four league wins out of four with a convincing win over the Grenadier. Dave Larkin struck first with only five minutes gone scrambling the ball home following a Paul Donachie corner and minutes later Larkin made it 2-0 following good work from Terry McCloughlin.

Andy Truscott ran through from his own half before scoring to make it three nil and Peter Truscott completed the first goal rush with a 20-yarder that gave the Grenadier goalkeeper no chance.

Slack defending allowed Andy Fixter to pull a goal back for the Grenadier shortly after half time but Larkin put the result beyond doubt when he completed his hat trick with ten minutes remaining. With just two minutes left on the clock, Fixter picked up his second goal of the game.

North Skelton 0 v 6 Thornaby Village

A hat-trick from the Village's Geoff Belt helped his side to one of their results of the season although it was not until late in the first half that the visitors managed to penetrate the North Skelton defence. The Village increased their lead with two goals early in the second half and they wrapped up a fine performance with two more in the dying minutes of the game. Paul Welch with two goals and Paul Jenson were the Thornaby sides other scorers while Mark Sherwood picked up the man of the match award for North Skelton.

Bull's Head 1 v 4 Woodman's Arms

Three goals inside 25 minutes set the Woodman's Arms on their way to their second league win in succession. Lee Waugh opened the scoring on ten minutes before Geoff Maloney added a second minutes later. Steve Sherringham converted a 25th minute penalty to give the Woodman's the cushion of a third goal at the interval and it was Sherringham who put the game beyond the Bull's reach with 20 minutes to go. Simon Nelson scored a late consolation for the Bulls.

M'brough PO 0 v 0 B&H King's Head

The third versus fourth place clash ended goalless despite chances going begging at both ends.

Ennis Square 4 v 0 Black Horse

By comparison with recent weeks, Black Horse restricted Ennis Square to just four goals with Wayne Gent's opener the only goal of the first half.

Gent made it 2-0 on 55 minutes heading home following a corner kick leaving Jonathan Kirk to complete the scoring.

Kirk added a third goal running through the Black Horse defence before rounding the keeper and ten minutes from time he scored for a second time in similar fashion.

Stockton Elementis 2 v 3 Stokesley

Stokesley picked up the three points in this bottom of the table clash although two late goals from Elementis had them hanging on at the end. Midway through the first half, Stokesley's man of the match John Dowd gave his side the lead when he ran at the Elementis defence before firing home.

The second half saw Elementis putting Stokesley under some pressure but Lawrence Ndlovu increased the home side's lead following a corner. Things got even better for Stokesley when Neil Nelson saw his corner kick end up in the back of the net but ten minutes from time, Elementis finally broke through the Stokesley defence.

Two minutes from time, Stokesley's lead was reduced to just a single goal but they managed to hold firm at the back to secure the points that moves them away from the re-election zone.

P W D L F A GD Pts

St. Mary's Coll OB 21 15 2 4 71 17 54 47

Thornaby Mandale 17 15 1 1 75 19 56 46

B+H Kings Head 19 14 2 3 73 23 50 44

M'bro' Post Office 22 9 6 7 54 40 14 33

Redcar Coke Ovens 16 11 0 5 64 31 33 33

Thornaby Village 23 9 6 8 60 49 11 33

The Grenadier FC 21 10 1 10 50 45 5 31

South Bank Utd SC 18 10 0 8 70 61 9 30

Coulby Newham 22 8 5 9 74 55 19 29

Bull's Head 16 8 3 5 41 40 1 27

Ennis Square 20 7 6 7 42 46 -4 27

Stokesley SC 21 6 3 12 46 59 -13 21

Woodman's Arms 21 5 3 13 34 46 -12 18

North Skelton FC 19 5 2 12 34 75 -41 17

Stockton Elementis 18 4 2 12 43 58 -15 14

Black Horse 20 0 0 20 16 183 -167