Darlington RA are right in the thick of the promotion fight in third, even though they dropped points in their promotion battle against North Shields in a 1-1 draw.

Graham Whitehead missed a penalty for the RA, and that seemed expensive because Scott Blandford put Shields in front with a header from a corner on 75 minutes. But Fred Huscroft levelled for the RA when he controlled the ball on his chest and skilfully fired the equaliser with a shot on the turn.

Darlington RA manager Nick Harrison said: “We’re happy with a point it was a great equaliser by Freddie. The three week lay off affected us, but we’re now regaining our earlier form.”

North Shields manager Anthony Woodhouse said: “We’re disappointed with the result, but a draw was probably fair. They missed a penalty and we should have held on. We were down to ten men due to injuries after the subs were made.”

Hebburn took advantage of the teams around them dropping points by moving into fourth with a 1-0 away win at Seaham Red Star, Alex Benjamin scoring the only goal of the game midway through the first half.

Hebburn manager Paul Bennett said; “It was a great workmanlike performance. A clean sheet away from home with a lot of injuries and players missing. At this point of the season it’s three points and that’s all that matters.”

Seaham manager Steve Cook said: “it was a good performance from the lads, defending well and looking a threat going forward, but we’re lacking that little bit of luck at the moment. The attitude and workrate were top drawer, but we didn’t get our just rewards. But plenty of positives to take into Tuesday’s game.”

Leaders Team Northumbria are edging closer to the promotion following a 2-1 home win over Alnwick, Peter Watling scoring both their goals, one in each half, to give him 35 league goals for the season. Chris Moffit earlier equalised for Alnwick.

Second placed Gillford Park look as if they’re TN’s only main threats, and they won 3-1 away at Ryton. Mark Butler, Graeme Antony and Lee Hoolickin scored their goals before Ross Atkinson replied.

Ryton manager Dave Hagan said: “We had chances to go 2-0 up before half time, but then we conceded a poor goal and got punished after that. Gillford are certs to go up, but they know that for long spells they were in a tough game.”

Morpeth dropped from fourth to eighth, after losing 4-2 at Birtley, who are now up to fifth having lost just once in their last twelve matches. Birtley trailed 2-1 at the break to goals by Jordan Fry and Ashley McAlpine, with Danny Smart replying, But in the second half, Kevin Dixon, Reece Darwent and an own goal gave Birtley the points.

Birtley manager Scott Oliver said: “We weren’t great, but our front two looked dangerous. Morpeth outbattled us for periods but we hung in there.”

Esh Winning lost ground, going down 2-1 at home to Washington. Esh’s chances were hit early on when they lost keeper Jake Johnson because of injury, and so midfielder John Jury replaced him in goal. Lee Hamilton and Chris Tate put Washington 2-0 up, before Kieron Megran pulled a goal back from the spot with ten minutes left.

Esh Winning manager Andrew Soppitt said: “Our keeper got injured after 10 minutes which changed the game and gave them a lift. But we were below par.”

Crook Town maintained their recent improvement by winning 5-1 at Whitehaven.

They took the lead when a Whitehaven defender turned a Corey Barnes cross into his own net, and just after half time Richard Hodgson chested the ball down for Kyle Davis to score. Whitehaven pulled a goal back through Malcolm Holliday, but Crook quickly went 3-1 up when Chris Wallace tapped in from a Kevin Devine assist. Devine made it 4-1 from the spot after Alex Marshall was fouled, and Devine got another from an Ian Bickerstaffe pass.

Crook manager Gary Pearson said: “We’ve steadied the ship , and everyone is happy in the dressing room. Every one of our 19 players can fill the boots of a first team player.”

Easington’s revival came to a halt when they were beaten 4-2 in their six pointer against Brandon who move up to fourth bottom. The home side went two goals up through Michael Nichol and Mark Ferguson, and even though Rob Huntley pulled a goal back, Scott Hine made it 3-1 and then Easington defender Paul Moss put through his own goal.

It was Brandon’s first win in 11 league matches.

Easington manager Paul Adamson said: “It was a very bad day at the office. We had 8 or 9 players who thought that we were just going to turn up and win because of a few decent results. There’ll be a few changes for the next game.”

Horden are still second bottom after they lost 3-1 at home to West Allotment, who are now up to sixth. Horden led at until the 76th minute through Stephen Ferguson, but Allotment hit back with goals by Dean Lee, Chris Reid and Chris Hutchinson.

West Allotment manager Paul Stoneman said: “I thought we played really well, and deserved the win, Good luck to Horden, their manager was a really nice person.”

Chester-le-Street edged further away from the bottom by drawing 1-1 against Northallerton, who have now failed to win any of their last seven matches.

James Fairley put Chester into the lead with a 25 yarder in the second half, but Northallerton quickly equalised through Colin Anderson, his 14th league goal of the season.

Chester-le-Street manager Anth Smith said: “In the first half, the teams cancelled each other out, and not many chances created. The second half went wend to end with both teams having decent spells. Both teams created chances and a draw was a fair result.”

Northallerton manager Mark Fanning said: “It was a decent game which could have gone either way.”

In the other game, Thornaby lost 1-0 at home to Whickham, for whom Lawrence McKenna scored in the second half.

Thornaby manager Ray Morton said: “We threw a point away at the end with a mistake. We missed loads of chances.”