Consett manager Colin Carr is hoping that his team can turn draws into wins after they came from behind to earn a point against title-chasing Brandon.

Consett have been in the relegation fight for most of the season, but Carr is hoping that his team can maintain their improvement after their second half performance.

"I thought we were very lethargic in the first half, and when we were 2-0 down at half-time, I would have settled for half a point, never mind a point," he said.

"But I thought we dominated the second half, and we could have picked up all three points.

"In our last five games, we've shown that we can pick up points from the top teams.

"Now we need to make sure that when we play teams in the bottom half of the table, we beat them."

Consett went a goal behind after 15 minutes when Chris Neil scored from Anth McStea's corner. And they seemed to be on their way to defeat after 37 minutes when Richie Pitt finished off a four-man move with a low shot.

But Consett battled back in the second half, and pulled a goal back after 56 minutes through Tony Halliday in a goalmouth scramble, then after 69 minutes Andrew Thompson crossed for Halliday to equalise.

And Consett nearly snatched an unlikely win late on when Colin McLeod's header scraped the post. West Auckland gained revenge for a heavy defeat at Shildon earlier in the season when they won the return game 3-2 at Darlington Road, but both sides finished the game with ten men. West took the lead after 11 minutes when Michael Carter set up James Lang to chip Adam Clementson in the Shildon goal.

But the visitors levelled when Lee Ellison's free-kick was blocked, and Gary Phelps followed up to score his first goal for the club.

West regained the lead after 65 minutes when Jonathan Milroy won possession from Steve Tobin just outside the Shildon box and ran though to beat Clementson.

He then dispossessed David Bayles to score the third. But Shildon pulled a goal back with an Ellison penalty after a foul by Ray Stanger on Danny Key.

However, they then had midfielder Brian Nelson dismissed for swearing, while West's Dion Raitt followed for a foul.

Durham City moved into fourth with a 5-3 home win over Chester-le-Street.

They took the lead after just a three minutes when Paul Stephenson headed in after Thomas Jones' shot was blocked. But Chester hit back to lead 2-1, Ross Lumsden heading in an equaliser from a Jamie Elrington corner, then Steve Cuggy made it 2-1 with a header.

But Durham levelled with a curling free-kick by former Hartlepool player Steve Halliday after 32 minutes, then Halliday provided the pass for Tony Healer to score with a well-placed shot before half-time.

Healer got the fourth with a good header from a Craig Lake cross, and even though David Turner pulled a goal back following a mistake by Durham keeper Paul Newton, Keith Douglas made sure of the points with a shot from the edge of the box.

Tow Law are unbeaten in four matches after a 1-0 win at neighbours Esh Winning.

There was some good football on a sticky pitch, and the only goal of the game came along after 64 minutes when Lawyers sub Scott Thompson, on for Paul Richardson, opened up the Esh defence for Kraig Wilkinson to fire home.

Tow Law finished the game with ten men after Carl Beasley was red-carded for retaliation.

Washington are now fifth from bottom after they beat high-flying Jarrow Roofing 1-0. Washington had the edge in the first half, with Michael Stubbs and Stuart Dixon both going close.

But after Paul Chow hit the Washington bar, the home side got a precious winner with 12 minutes left when Ben Chambers was brought down in the area, and scored from the penalty spot. Jarrow are now fifth because of Durham's win over Chester-le-Street. Prudhoe slipped back to fourth bottom after they lost 3-1 at Whitley Bay, although they led at half-time.

Ian Chandler hit the post for Whitley before former Whitley player Rob Livermore scored from the edge of the box.

Whitley equalised just after half-time with a 25-yarder from Kevin Walton, and then Walton crossed for Chandler to put them into the lead on the hour.

And Whitley wrapped up the points when Lee Ludlow headed in from Chandler's cross.

In the second division, Penrith go into the New Year still unbeaten in the league after they beat fellow promotion-chasers Horden 1-0 with a goal by Willie Paul. Seaham Red Star ran rampant at Murton, winning 8-1 to put them into sixth place. Murton scored first in the game through Ben Hutchinson, but Seaham roared back with goals by Paul Taylor (2), John Harrison (2), Stuart Morris, Colin Wright, Peter Fitzsimmons and Ian Matthews.

Ashington also hit the goals-trail, putting six past second bottom Eppleton to put them into fourth place in the table. Ashington striker Alan Hogg became only the second player in the division this season to score four goals, Mark Campbell and Ross Atkinson getting the others.

Willington are now firmly in the bottom-three after they lost 3-1 at home to Shotton. Tony Land scored twice for Shotton in the first half.