Dunston moved closer to the title with a single goal victory at Guisborough and assistant manager Perry Briggs has put their success down to their defence.

Dunston go into the final stages of the season two points clear of Durham City with two games in hand, and barring mishaps should clinch their first ever title.

"Our defence has been excellent this season," said Briggs.

"We're not the best scoring team in the league, but when we keep clean sheets, we're always likely to get something.

"Considering the wet and windy conditions on Saturday, we defended well. But we must continue getting good results."

The only goal of the game was after 32 minutes, when Kane Young headed in from a corner, but Guisborough had opportunities to score through Darren Sankey and Stephen Bell.

Dunston are at Marske tomorrow night and then Durham play Shildon on Friday morning.

Durham City came from behind to win 3-1 at Peterlee.

The home side took the lead when Lee Bytheway headed in a David Yale cross, but they were reduced to ten men when Paul Hinton was dismissed for his second bookable offence.

Durham levelled when Justin Keegan ran forward and found Lee O'Donovan who crossed for Glen Robson to score from ten yards, then Robson put City into the lead.

Stephen Stewart scored the goal of the game for the third, when he cut in from the left and fired into the top corner.

Tow Law picked up a valuable point in a 1-1 draw against Shildon who played for most of the match with ten men after keeper John Jackson was dismissed for handling outside his area. Although Shildon manager Ray Gowan claimed: "I don't know how the officials could tell, because the rain had washed away the line markings."

Emergency keeper Graham Liddle, normally a centre-back, was beaten by the resulting free kick from Anth Lowther, but he then kept Tow Law out. Shildon levelled just after half time when Garry Barnes scored his 30th league goal of the season from a free kick. Barnes is now four clear at the top of the First Division scoring charts.

Tow Law are eight points clear of the drop zone.

Chester-le-Street are definitely safe after a 2-1 away win at Jarrow Roofing.

Gary Shields gave them the lead when he latched on to a long clearance from keeper Ian Aitken and beat Gary Hoggarth in the Jarrow goal, but Jarrow levelled when Chris McCabe fired home early in the second half.

But Chester grabbed all three points when Andy Blower got the winner in the dying seconds.

Bedlington recovered from their recent poor run to win 1-0 at Brandon.

Mark Patterson headed against the bar for Brandon early in the game but Bedlington took the lead when Tony Chapman scored from a John Milner through-ball.

Andy Cuthbertson missed a good chance for Brandon just after half time, while Milner hit the bar for Bedlington.

Billingham Town are seventh after they easily beat West Auckland 4-1.

They scored three times in the first 20 minutes. Craig Skelton set up Carl Chillingsworth to score the first from close range, then the same combination worked again a few minutes later.

David Turner and Stuart Dixon combined to give debutant Tom Jones the opportunity to score on his debut for 3-0, but West pulled one back through Jonathan Milroy from a free kick early in the second half, with Town claiming handball.

Town's Jason Ainsley was dismissed for two yellows before Lee Ure made it 4-1. Late on West's Dion Raitt was also sent off for two bookable offences.

Thornaby had a 4-1 win at Whitley Bay, scoring all their goals in the first half.

They took the lead after five minutes when Craig Rand headed home from a corner, and they went 2-0 up after 31 minutes when Jamie Clarke scored with an overhead kick.

Clarke dispossessed Craig Myhill to run through and score the third, and then he completed his first hat-trick of the season when he dribbled past two men and fired past Terry Burke.

Steve Cuggy got a consolation for Whitley in the second half.

Esh Winning won their second successive game, 2-1 at Morpeth.

However, they had to come from behind after Morpeth took the lead on 38 minutes with an Andy Dugdale effort, but Esh equalised through Paul Bellamy from close range. Late in the game Steve Burns scored from the rebound after Gary Messer headed against the bar.

In the second division, the matches involving the top three were all postponed because of waterlogged pitches so that allowed Washington Nissan to move within one point of the promotion places with a 2-0 home win over Murton. Jimmy Farrell fired Nissan into the lead after 52 minutes, then sub John Wainwright scored. Farrell has scored in Nissan's last four games.

Easington are closer to the drop after they lost 3-2 at home to Prudhoe.

Easington were behind twice, but Anthoiny Laidler got the winner.

Scott Wilson and an own goal from Andy Clark put Prudhoe ahead with Trenton Hewitt and then Billy Millington equalising.

Easington are still seven points from safety with only four games remaining.

Norton are still flirting with danger in fifth bottom after they were crushed 5-1 at Hebburn.

The home side were four goals up by the break thanks to Paul Donaghie, David Leonard, Gary Donaldson and Gary Baxter. Even though Mark Swift pulled a goal back, Stephen Handy added a fifth.

Crook lost to Northallerton for the second time in four days, 2-0 at Millfield.

They had David Snow dismissed for swearing early on, after which Eddie Hebron put Northallerton ahead. Crook lost two defenders because of injury at half time and after the break Anthony Roberts dribbled through for the second.

All other Second Division matches were postponed because of waterlogged pitches.