Guisborough came from behind to beat Crook Town 4-2 and stay on course for the second promotion place.

Darren Kokes opened the scoring with a lob over Guisborough keeper Jack Norton on 15 minutes, but the Priorymen levelled when David Onions scored from the spot after he was brought down.

Crook regained the lead just before the break through John Jury, but Guisborough showed their promotion credentials in the second half. Gary Wood levelled from a Lee Bythway free kick, then Onions made it 3-2 with a bicycle kick. Shane Henry struck the fourth with a powerful 25 yarder for his 14th league goal of the season.

Guisborough manager Chris Hardy said: “The important thing was that we didn’t slip up, and in the second half we did more right than we had been doing in the first half. We overcame a potential banana skin.”

Guisborough are nine points clear of the others, and need two wins from three matches to go up.

Crook manager Brian Maitland said: "If we had a full squad, it would have been a different game, but we only had eleven and ran out of steam. I'm very disappointed in some of the players who weren't available, it's not good enough for the management team and the club."

The third promotion place will go to any one of three clubs. North Shields are in pole position, winning 5-0 at Morpeth. They scored twice in the first 10 minutes and it seemed as if they would have to settle for that, but a more attacking formation brought them three more goals in the last ten minutes. Morpeth defender James Clark and Femi Akinbolu put Shields 2-0 up, and later in the game Keith Douglas (2) and Akinbolu scored. Former Blackburn striker Graham Fenton has quit as assistant manager of Shields because of work and family commitments.

North Shields manager Anthony Woodhouse said: “Hopefully, we’ve overcome that recent bad patch. I’m pleased we scored a few goals, because promotion might come down to goal difference in the end.”

Marske United came from behind to beat Whitehaven 4-2 at Mount Pleasant.

The first three goals in the game were all penalties – two by Whitehaven’s Carl McGrady, with one by Steve Cochrane sandwiched in between – and just before the break John Burton, son of manager Paul, set up Karl Charlton to score from a few yards.

Chris McGill crossed for Cochrane to turn the ball into the top corner for the third, and Andy Raw headed the fourth from a Charlton corner.

Marske manager Paul Burton said: “It’s all pressure football at the moment. We must keep on working hard.”

Team Northumbria are fifth, after winning 1-0 at Brandon, Mark Fenwick scoring with a late goal. Brandon’s defeat means that they will finish in the bottom two, but whether they are relegated depends on their ground and a number of other factors.

Northallerton beat Chester-le-Street for the second time in four days, this time by 2-1. Aaron Ramsbottom gave them the lead with a tap in after Darren Mowbray and Martin Butterworth set him up and Craig Winter put them 2-0 up from a Peter Bulmer corner. But Chester pulled one back immediately when Ben Johnson ran through the offside trap and beat the Northallerton keeper.

Northallerton manager Mark Fanning said: “The first two goals gave us some breathing space, because Chester put us under a lot of pressure.”

Horden have only two games remaining to avoid the bottom three after they lost 4-2 at Birtley. Horden only had eleven players, and one of them went off injured after ten minutes. Birtley led 3-0 at one point with goals from Andy McIntosh (2) and Ben Richardson, and after Kevin Boddy pulled a goal back, Owen Peterson made it 4-1. Ian Tumilty pulled a late goal back for then ten men.

Birtley manager Scott Oliver said: “We were always in control, and we got sloppy in the second half, and conceded two goals.”

Horden manager Brian Honour said: I was proud of the kids today. We only had eleven to start the game, lost one, but we should still have got something.”

Darlington RA can’t finish any better than 12th after they lost 3-1 at Gillford Park. Darren Addison, David Wallace and Shaun Bannon scored for Gillford, with Paul Freary replying.

Hebburn comfortably won 5-0 away to Thornaby. Dean Nicholson and Tony Stephenson both scored in the space of a minute on the half hour mark, with Dean Walker making it 3-0 on half time. Paul King and Scott Donaldson scored in the second half.

In the morning kick off, Whickham and Washington drew 1-1 in front of double their average gate. Whickham took the lead on 37 minutes with an own goal by Jamie Mence, but Brett Turner levelled for Washington right at the end.