Newton Aycliffe desperately clung on to three points when they narrowly edged a tense nine-goal encounter with Salvins.

The league suffered yet again from the bad weather last weekend, with only five games going ahead.

And Aycliffe continued their championship bandwagon with a priceless win at relegation-threatened Salvins.

Red-hot striker Russell Mercer put Aycliffe into a two-goal first-half lead before Paul Rutter pulled one back for Salvins just before the break.

Mercer netted his trick shortly after the re-start, and defender Darren Muncaster made it 4-1 before Arran Soulbsy pulled another back for the home side.

However, Jason Wing grabbed a fifth for Aycliffe to seemingly wrap up the three points for Brian Scaiffe's men.

Salvins striker Rutter had other ideas, however, as he bagged his second and third of the game to pile the pressure on the title-contenders.

Salvins pushed for an equaliser in the last ten minutes, but Aycliffe held out.

In the only other Division One fixture, battling Beehive recorded a crucial 3-1 win against Eldon Lane.

Kicking against the wind, Eldon took the lead in the first half with an Ian McGowan goal - the score remained so until after half-time.

Mark Pattinson equalised with a splendid individual effort, cutting in from the right and hammering past the 'keeper, before Jeff Dunn and Jonathan Hall scored again to clinch a massive victory for Beehive.

"Delighted with the win!" said manager Michael Hill. "I think we deserved it in the end. We played quite well and I think we were probably up for it more than they were. Ironically, they took the lead kicking into the win in the first half, and we scored three kicking into the wind!

"But it's a priceless win for us. We desperately needed the points and this lifts us away from the relegation zone slightly."

In Division Two last week, Two Blues beat Eldon Arms 6-1 with goals by Mark Smith (2), Lee Nixon (2), Adrian Brown and Andrew Trotter.

Meanwhile, Thorns skipped into the semi-finals of the B&A Trophy with a 4-1 win at Postchaise.

Steven Richardson, Andrew Richardson, Mark Russell and an own goal ensured their passage to the final four, with Stuart Beattie netting for Postchaise.

The only other game in the competition saw Old Shildon beat Horndale 5-1 with Phillip Appleby netting a hat-trick. Thomas Louden and Martin Hedley also scored for the victors, with Wayne Pratt bagging Horndale's goal.

The outstanding quarter-final ties are: Loves v Brandon, Grand v Brawns Den.

Results round-up - Sunday, February 2: Division One: Salvins 4, Newton Aycliffe 5; Beehive 3, Eldon Lane 1.

Division Two: Two Blues 6, Eldon Arms 1.

B&A Trophy QFs: Horndale 1, Old Shildon 5; Postchaise 1, Thorns 4.