Darlington RA had little difficulty reaching the quarter finals of the Wearside League Cup when they met Stanley United at Brinkburn Road.

Two goals ahead at the halfway stage, they built up a 4-0 lead before Stanley made the scoreline more respectable with a couple of late strikes.

Stephen Johnson, Stephen Sinclair and Paul Freary (2) were on target for RA with John Holmes and Aaron Scott replying.

Cleadon SC also won by a 4-2 margin when they played their tie with Wolviston at Jack Clark Park but they needed extra time before going through.

David Dowd headed Wolviston in front but before the interval it was all square as Andrew Potts found the net. Mark Johnson put Cleadon ahead but it was no more than Wolviston deserved when Andy Steel levelled.

Chris Bailey scored immediately at the start of extra time and Adam Peacock netted right at the death.

Birtley Town were another side to score four times in seeing off the challenge from Annfield Plain. Paul Bryson (pen), Bob Cooper and Paul Terrell had Birtley firmly in command before David Pither threw Plain a lifeline from the spot.

When Carl Pennington added a fourth, there was no way back for the visitors and Birtley maintained their 100 per cent record in cup competitions.

Two ties were settled by single goals. Windscale survived a late Boldon CA threat to win courtesy of Gary Hodgson's goal on 57 minutes while North Shields had Roy Gordon to thank for their victory over Redcar Town at Ralph Gardner Park.

Andy Elliott hit the woodwork and Dominic Riley had a shot cleared off the line as the Robins threatened to increase their lead but in the last couple of minutes they survived a scare when Ian Swinnerton rattled the post.

After building up a two-goal lead with a second-half brace from Jonathan Newton, Stokesley were pegged back to 2-1 with an 89th-minute goal by David Baxter but Ryhope CW failed to take the tie into extra time.

One game was played in the League and Barnard Castle Glaxo improved their position near the bottom, defeating Ferryhill Athletic 5-2. The Murray brothers were prominent with Stuart scoring three times and Ross once. Glaxo's other marksman was Barry Raper and for Ferryhill, Stuart Cotton and Stephen Salisbury hit the net.