Seaham Duke lost their first match, beaten 4-3 by local rivals Seaham Mallard who are in a rich vein of form and were good value for the victory.

Mallard took an early lead through James Taylor only for Steven Frater to equalise shortly afterwards. Darren Slee restored Mallard's lead before half time. The second half began much the same as the first and The Duke equalised with a superb overhead kick from Colin Wright. Mallard went down to 10 players when Thomas Newby was sent off. The extra man told as The Duke applied the pressure and took the lead through Kevin Coyle. The ten men of Mallard did not give up and took the game to The Duke and a deflected shot from Nathan Griffiths levelled the match again at 3-3. With only seconds remaining the same player scored with a tremendous shot to bag the points. The defeat of The Duke by Seaham Mallard enabled Washington Westwood to close the gap at the top. Westwood visited Chesters and completely overwhelmed them in a 15-1 victory. Among the Westwood scorers were Chris Linstead (4), Dean Helens (3), Peter Hollis (2) and Chris Nugent (2). The win puts Westwood six points behind The Duke with three games in hand.

Boys Welfare consolidated their position behind Westwood with a 7-1 victory at Birtley Town Reserves. The half time position was 2-1 to Boys and the match was evenly poised. Birtley had a player sent off early in the second half and this totally disrupted their shape, eventually leading to a comfortable Boys win. Scorers for Welfare were Jeff Cooper (4), Mark Peterson, James Parkinson and Scott Cartwright. High scoring was again the order of the day in the other two league matches.

Whitehill defeated Sunderland Flying Boat 6-4 in a highly entertaining game. Whitehill led 2-1 at half time and further increased their lead to 5-1 in the second half. A couple of substitutions from the home side saw the game change dramatically as the visitors pulled Whitehill back to 5-4. The home side held on and scored a late goal to take the points with a 6-4 victory. Whitehill's goals came from Norton(3), Proctor (1) and Rutherford (1). Middleton, Hyles and Foster(2) replied for Flying Boat.

Durham Victoria Bridge easily accounted for Herrington CW despite being down to 10 men for 60 minutes of the game. A 2-0 interval lead was built and Bridge were good value for the points. The goals from the Bridge were scored by Darren Burnham(3), Graham Cook (2), Kane Hobson and Francis Ward. The sole reply for Herrington came from Anthony Cooper.

P W D L F A Pts

Seaham Duke 14 10 3 1 42 14 33

W'ton Westwood 11 8 3 0 57 8 27

Boys Welfare 12 8 2 2 40 26 26

Herrington CW 11 7 1 3 37 31 22

Durham Vic Bdge 12 6 2 4 46 30 20

Springwell Village 11 6 2 3 27 14 20

Belford House 10 5 2 3 27 17 17

Whitehill 11 4 4 3 33 33 16

Flying Boat 12 3 3 6 22 26 12

Seaham Mallard 11 3 2 6 25 39 11

W'ton Cross Keys 10 2 2 6 25 40 8

Chester's 12 2 0 10 18 56 6

Britley Town Res. 12 0 3 9 14 49 3

Ebchester 9 0 1 8 9 39 1

Brian Adams Transport Emergency Services League

Cleveland Fire leapt to the top of the First Division thanks to a 4-2 win at Darlington. Lee Finlay bagged a hat-trick with Jason Parnell getting the other goal. Fred Wood continued his goal-a-game start, with Jim Honeyman getting the other. With two wins, Cleveland Fire lead four teams on four points.

Washington are second thanks to a 5-1 win over Durham and Chester-le-Street. Paul Stewart scored four goals, two from the penalty spot with Phil Whymer completing the scoring. Mark Ferry was the Durham side's consolation scorer.

Frankland finally got their first points with a 5-1 win over Derwentside. The home side took their chances well with Ian Gibson (2), Paul Bruce, Jon Hall and Mark Jones scoring while Chris Knight got the visitors' goal.

In Division Two Sunderland Saints edged to the top following a 1-1 draw with Sedgefield. In a game of missed chances, Billy Crampsie scored for Sedgefield, while Danny McFarlane got Saint's goal.

Durham Fire are enjoying an unbeaten start, winning 3-2 against Durham and HQ.

Ashley Air Products

Over-40s League

Billingham travelled to Ponteland looking to improve their league position and defeated Northumbria Police 4-1 with a brilliant display of attacking football.

On a heavy surface Billingham took command with ex-East Fife player Tommy Connor and debutante Peter Collins in good form at the back. The Teessiders took the lead with a shot from close range by Keith Corner, and after 20 minutes they increased the lead through Keith Aldridge after good work by Bob Bishop.

The Wanderers were in command and went further ahead with a close range shot from full-back Jeff Heslop and just before half time an excellent passing move saw Eric Barret cross for Aldridge to head his second.

In the second period, Manager Ray Morton introduced substitutes and in the final minutes the Police got a consolation goal through Mick mularkey.

Tomorrow Billingham entertain Bates Cottages from Whitley Bay at Norton and Stockton ancients Station Road ground, 10.30am kick-off.

In Division One, Newton Aycliffe drew 3-3 at home with Owton Manor, Hartlepool. Despite the Manor looking on top in the opening period, it was Aycliffe who look the lead through Colin Smith with a pile-driver from 25 yards and not long after another screamer from the same player gave them a 2-0 half-time lead.

After the start Costello made it 2-1 but Paul Buxton scored to make it 3-1 to Aycliffe, but in a grand-stand finish Costello and Parfitt both scored to give the Manor a 3-3 draw.

Ferryhill Greyhound turned in a fighting display to end 2-1 at home to the Mason's Arms who showed a great deal of improvement. Keith Watson scored to give the Greyhound a 1-0 half-time lead and after the restart Kevin Wild made it 2-0. The Pirates came back strongly and Whitehead pulled one back but time ran out on them.

In Division Two Barnard Castle Glaxo lost 1-0 away to leaders Hartlepool Catholic Club who took the lead after 20 minutes when a fierce free kick by Wanless beat the 'keeper. The Castle fought back and the game swung from end-to-end and ten minutes from time Graham Hammond broke clear and only a super tackle from Andy McClusky saved a certain goal to secure a draw which would have been a fair result.

In Division Three Wingate showed their true form by defecting Oddies 3-0 at home. Goals from Dave Whiting and Alan Granger gave them a 2-0 interval lead and a further second half goal from Colin Bainbridge settled the score.

In Division Four Wynyard Veterans are now the league leaders after winning 5-0 at White Horse Inn with Peter Allen(2); Neil Sullivan(2) and Dick Wells scoring. So far this season Wynyard Veterans have scored the highest total of goals in the league with 33.

West Cornforth drew 1-1 at home to the Sportsmans Arms, they have only lost one game but are draw specialists having drawn five and only won three.

North East Christian Fellowship League

City Church Sunderland moved top of Division One at the weekend at the expense of Airport Church, Newcastle. Ryan Pender opened the scoring in the first half and he got his second later with John Dixon also scoring.

Daniel Harrison wrapped up the scoring at the death for City to win 4-0.

Paul Gribbin opened the scoring for Bethshan Christian Centre at Heaton Hearts and second half strikes fromTim Randall, Chris Thompson and an own goal from David Storey gave Bethshan a 4-0 win.

Mark Morrit scored for Athenians to put them in the lead at Ryton Churches but a penalty from Michael Wheatley squared the match at 1-1 and it remained that way until full-time.

Saint Peters Low Fell came back from a Ronnie Smith goal for Bethany Christian Centre to win 4-1 and go top of Division Two. A pair each from Richard Coxon and Sammy earned the win for Saint Peters who scored all their goals in the second period.

Mark Brewster and Martin Todd gave Wearside Community Church B a 2-1 lead at Lanchester Chapel, Andrew Knighton got Lanchester's goal. In the last minute Glyn Davison scored an equaliser for Lanchester to finish the match 2-2.

Jamie Church of Jesmond Parish Church B scored a pair of goals to put his side 2-1 ahead at home to Westgate Baptist Church who hit-back through Steven Valentine. Church completed his hat-trick with Simon Cooper getting on the score sheet as well to give Jesmond a 4-1 win.

With the score 1-1 at half time, Stakeford Methodist, for the second week running, let a 3-2 lead slip losing 4-3 at Monkwearmouth Christian. Monkwearmouth scorers were Neil McCarten, Steve Dix, Chris Bolt and Barry Ward while Stakeford's hit-men were Mark Jones and a pair from Mark Hudson.

In the CPO National Football Cup second round Stakeford Methodist won 2-0 by default as their opponents from Chester could not get a team to travel north. Stranton Saints, Hartlepool, travelled to Thornton Church, Bradford, and won 5-0.

Yarm Emmanuel travelled to Ossett Logo's in Wakefield. They won 3-2 in extra time after the 90 minutes had finished 1-1.

Jesmond Parish Church were away to Saint Peters Church, Shipley, for the second successive season, having lost there 3-2 and the score was repeated this time around.