Newton Aycliffe’s hopes of reaching the Northern League Cup final were dashed when they were beaten 3-1 at Ashington tonight -- but they could be reinstated.

The home side took the lead when Glen Taylor fired powerfully past Aycliffe keeper James Winter, who soon after made a good save to stop a second.

But even though they were reduced to ten men when Richard Archer went off injured, and they had no subs, Aycliffe equalised when Liam Henderson scored from the spot following a handball offence.

However, Ashington regained the lead through Taylor from close range, and then James Harmison made it 3-1 with ten minutes left. Aycliffe then had Mark Stephenson dismissed for his second bookable offence.

After the game, Aycliffe revealed that they will protest to the league as they claimed that Ashington's Dylan Armstrong was ineligible having signed for the Colliers at the weekend, which is within the 14 day registration limit for the league cup semi finals and final.

Marske United came back from three goals down at Sunderland RCA to keep their title hopes alive in the ENL First Division.

The RCA took the lead when Lee Bythway’s free kick was partly stopped by Robbie Deane, and Michael Charlton scored from the rebound.

The home side went 2-0 up when Joe Hughes cut in from the left, beat two men, and curled the ball into the top corner of the net.

After half time, Charlton made it 3-0 when he ran at the Marske defence and fired into the bottom corner. It was nearly 4-0, but Marske keeper Robbie Deane pulled off an excellent save from Kieran Megran’s penalty.

However, Marske pulled two goals back in a minute, Carmichael fumbled a weak shot by Reece Kelly over his own line, then Craig Gott scored from the spot.

And in the last minute, Steve Butterworth hit the post, but Danny Brunskill equalised from the rebound.

The games at Celtic Nation, Chester le-Street and Tow Law were all postponed.