Durham Alliance

Ties in the Durham Trophy, first round, produced some exciting football and goals in abundance, notably at Chesters FC whose depleted squad were on the wrong end of a 5-1 result against Wolviston Reserves. David Hewson netted the lone home goal.

Birtley Town Reserves, forced to field a junior side, suffered a similar fate at home to Winlaton Hallgarth, the visitors running out 7-1 winners. Gary Young hit four for Hallgarth, whose superior experience was apparent but Joe Brunskill scored a consolation for Birtley. Whitehill FC, entertaining Hartlepool Brewer and Firkin, provided a sweeter result as they triumphed by the odd goal in seven. The tight scoreline belied Whitehill's dominance, a superb brace by the prolific Gary Johnson sandwiching goals by lan Proctor and Paul Rutherford.

Hartlepool Boys Welfare went down 4-3 away to Spennymoor Quinns. Welfare started the second half two-down, but an inspired 15 minute spell took them into a 3-2 lead. However, Quinns took advantage of Welfare's late complacency, scoring twice in the final five minutes to win the tie. Seaham Mallard hosted Ferryhill Athletic but delivered a below-par performance which allowed Athletic to advance into the next round with a 5-1 win. Norman Carr scored for Mallard, while Ferryhill's goals included two by Peter Robson.

Seaham The Duke travelled to Middleton Wanderers and an exciting tie entered extra time when, at 2-2, John Pinder missed a last-minute penalty kick.

It was left to penalties to decide the result, however, with Seaham winning the shoot-out 4-2.

Sunderland Flying Boat also made their exit with a heavy home defeat by Brandon Station. A tight first half saw Brandon score twice, but when the third goal came soon after the break, Flying Boat heads went down and Brandon went home with six goals.

Herrington CW saw off Gateshead Three Tuns challenge with a comfortable 5-1 home win. The hosts dominated throughout and included a brace from Joseph Dodd.

Washington Westwood entertained league colleagues Belford House, and the visitors left with a 2-0 win, both goals scored by Cameron Marshall. The two remaining ties saw a flood of goals as Ryton AFC and Durham Victoria Bridge entertained the crowd with an eight-goal thriller, Ryton netting six to enter the next round. Finally, Ebchester saw their cup form reflect their league form as the crashed 10-0 at home to Darlington Railway Athletic.

North-East Christian Fellowship League

Division One sees Whitley Bay Churches secured to the bottom of the table losing 3-1 at Consett Methodist Church. Railton Brookes scored in each half as the match finished 5-2 to Consett. Consett's hot-shots were David Rowe and Richard Carroll a pair each and a strike from Martin Herdman.

Jesmond Parish Church are on the slippery slope after leading the table from the start of the season they have lost the last few matches and Saturday was no exception. Heaton Hearts' Andy Brammell opened the scoring in a 3-0 win with Aaron Parsons scoring the third.

Wearside Community Church A moved to the top of Division Two with a 7-1 win at Middlesbrough Baptist's. Paul Kindon cracked-in three goals with Steven Swinney, Rick Goodwin and Mark Huck each on the scoresheet an own goal from Adam Hodge with Jon Rhodes scoring for Middlesbrough.

Saint Peter's Low Fell dropped to second with Monkwearmouth Christians moving into third place, drawing 3-3 they then went on a goal rampage beating the Saints 8-4. Barry Ward was the main scorer with four goals, Chris Bolt, Steve Dix and Ben Hodgeson each scoring and an own goal from Jonathan Heslop, David Donaldson and Rob Laybourne got a pair each for Saint Peter's.

Jesmond Parish B got another away win at Lanchester Chapel. Losing 2-1 at half time with Andrew Knighton (2), Simon Richardson scoring for Jesmond, Richardson went on to score his hat-trick and miss a penalty in the second half as Jesmond won 3-2.

Emmanuel Yarm collected their first win of the season and swapped places at the bottom of the table with Wearside Community Church B who they beat 5-3. Yarm led 5-0 at half time from Dillon Umpleby and a pair from Marc Dale and Darren Laycock. Wearside came strong in the second half from Ivor Crowther (2) and Michael Duff.

Stakeford Methodist Church are having trouble holding onto the lead to win matches as for the third game in a row they lead, this week they got a draw after losing the others. Matthew Hayton (2) and a Paul Air penalty gave Stakeford a 3-1 lead at half time against Heworth Christian Fellowship Lee Wilkinson scoring for Heworth. Hayton completed his hat-trick, Gary Harkness scored a pair and a strike from Nick Rowlands finished the match 4-4.

Gary Beresford gave Westgate Road Baptist Church a 1-0 lead at half time. Steven Valtine scored for the fourth match in a row as Westgate drew 2-2 with Bethany Christian Community, Dale Reid and Phil Hartis scoring for Bethany.

Brian Adams Transport Emergency Services League

All the first division matches were off due to waterlogged pitches so the second division took centre stage.

Unbeaten Sunderland Saints remain top after beating Durham Fire 5-2. Craig Murray put Saints two up in the first half. Durham Fire levelled before half-time with goals by Glen Stewart and Simon Waggott. Saints took the second half with three unanswered goals. Craig Murray scored two more to take his seasonal debut tally to four. Keith Goldsmith surprised everyone with his first goal in six years.

Easington remain second, having played one game less than Saints, recording a third straight win over an understrength Sedgefield side. Easington won 6-0 thanks to goals from Kev Atkinson (2), Neil Robinson (2), Keith James and Nev Carmen. Easington entertain Saints next.

Durham HQ and Langbaurgh met with both having no points. Something had to give, it was HQ who won in a five-goal thriller where they led three times - thanks to three Steves. Steve Peart gave them the lead only for Andy Gray to equalise. Steve Seddon made it 2-1 with Gary Cookland equalising then Steve Rooney scored the winner.

l The league would be interested in applications for next season from police, fire or prison services between Tyneside and Langbaurgh. Any civil service teans or armed forces may be considered too. Contact Andy McConnell at Stanley police office on (01207) 232144.

Ashley Air Products

Over-40s League

Ferryhill Greyhound are into the semi-finals of the Villa Real Cup after defeating Consett 2-0 after extra time. It was a tragedy for division four side Consett who played through the game with only ten players and to force extra time was a great achievement.

Ferryhill played well and deserved the victory, their scorers were Ian Wade and Joyce while David Peason in midfield had an outstanding game.

In the premier league the champions Billingham Wanderers drew 2-2 at home to the Inn Place. They led 1-0 at the interval through Keith Aldridge but missed chances prevented them from having a bigger lead. The Inn Place levelled through Geoff Hart shortly after the restart but Billingham's new signing, ex-Boro player Charlie Bell, scored on his debut to regain the lead. Ten minutes from time Hart equalised for Inn Place from a breakaway. A disappointing game for the champions who deserved to win this match.

In division one the Pirates at long last came good by defeating second top side Usworth 2-1 to move away from the bottom of the division. The Pirates took the lead through John Whitehead and only strong defensive work by Usworth stopped them from increasing their lead. John Whitehead scored with a spot-kick to restore the Masons lead 2-1 and solid defensive play prevented Usworth grabbing a late equaliser.

Newton Aycliffe turned in a splendid display of football to draw 1-1 away to Sunderland Catholic Club. They took the lad in the second half and look like collecting the points until one of their defenders deflected the ball into his own net to make it 1-1.

In division three Cleveland Bridge Darlington came back to form winning 5-2 away to Oddies to move into third place. One down after ten minutes they fought back to lead 2-1 at half time and after the restart went into a 4-1 lead only for Oddies to pull one back but scored late on to make it 5-2. Scorers were Robson, Dee, McStravick, Leafe and Thompson. Their star was Martin Nicholls who had a super game at centre-back.

In division four Wynyard Vets staged a mangificent recovery. Trailing 1-0 at half time they went 2-0 down and with only three minutes remaining pulled one back through Phil Balderstone and then levelled with the last kick of the match through Mo Najah to gain a 2-2 draw