Bishop Auckland stunned league leaders and neighbours West Auckland by beating them 4-3 at Heritage Park last night.

West, who have signed midfielder Adam Mitchell from Spennymoor. missed some good chances early in the game, and they paid the price for those misses when Bishops took the lead after 21 minutes.

West defender Dan Parker fouled Andy Johnson in the area, and even though West keeper Jack Norton saved Johnson’s penalty, Alex Francis was quick to react and knock home the loose ball.

Bishops went 2-0 up on 29 minutes when Johnson finished off a good move by sliding the ball past Norton, but West pulled a goal back when Anthony Bell curled the ball into the bottom corner.

However, Bishops restored their two goal advantage on 61 minutes when Parker was dismissed for handling a Matty Moffat shot on the line, and Priestley Griffiths scored from the spot.

But West battled back, and Nathan Fisher made it 3-2 with a deflected shot, his 15th league goal of the season, then sub Darren Richardson levelled off a Ben Wood pass.

But Bishops recovered, and won the game with three minutes left when Francis fired home after Darryl Hall headed the ball down to him.

In the second division, Tow Law extended their unbeaten start to the season to ten matches after they won 4-0 at Darlington RA. Lewis Teasdale scored his fifth goal in three games after just 4 minutes, and he added another late in the second half. Kai Hewitson scored the other two.

Durham City came back 2-0 and 3-1 down to draw 3-3 at Brandon. Brandon scored twice in the first half hour through Niall Fingleton and Dane Eltringham, before Durham pulled a goal back through Brad Hird. Vinny Gash put Brandon 3-1 up, but Hird and Daniel Knowd scored late in the game for Durham.

Esh Winning had a great 4-1 away win at West Allotment. Esh scored twice in the space of three minutes through Jordan Grieves and Matthew Allison in the first half, and after Nicky Whitelaw pulled a goal back on 70 minutes, Callum Boakes and Alex Hird added further goals Willington won their second successive game, this time beating Bedlington with a goal scored just two minutes from the end by Damon Ellis.