At 67, Annfield Plain secretary Marshall Lawson thought he had seen everything in local football but even he witnessed something new in Monday night's game with Nissan.

One of the Nissan players was injured and went to the touchline for treatment at which point he was substituted.

However, the player involved was unaware he had been taken off and he was waved back into play by the referee, which meant that Nissan had 12 players on the field.

"It was all unintentional but it took a couple of minutes to sort it out," said Marshall.

"A few spectators had a laugh and it did not affect the result. I suppose it was just one of those things but it's not something I've come across in the past," added Marshall.

Nissan won the game and after defeating Whitehaven in Wednesday's programme are 12 points better off than North Shields, who have three games in hand on their rivals for the championship.

David Thompson, North Shields secretary, said: "Our celebrations after beating Amble Vikings in the final of the Northumberland Senior Benevolent Bowl were tempered when word filtered through that Nissan had defeated Whitehaven with a late goal.

"Clearly, we now have it all to do to clinch the title and with it a place in the Second Division of the Albany Northern League. It's a tall order but if we win all our games then we should do it on goals difference since one of our outstanding fixtures is against Nissan.

The Robins lifted the Benevolent Bowl with a last-minute, extra time goal against Amble Vikings and on Monday are involved in another final when they visit Nissan in the Monkwearmouth Charity Cup, kick-off 11 am.

Stanley United manager Vince Kirkup was not a happy man on Wednesday night. He saw his side squander chance after chance at Simonside SC who have been leaking goals by the boat-load in recent weeks.

"I've been manager for more than 20 years and I can honestly say that I have never seen so many scoring opportunities passed up. It was absolutely incredible. Simonside conceded 12 goals last Saturday and quite honestly it should have been double figures again. No doubt, they will be pleased to have taken a point but we should have won with plenty to spare," bemoaned Kirkup.

P W D L F A Pts

Nissan 35 29 2 4 111 29 89

North Shields 32 24 5 3 120 22 77

Harton and Westoe 34 22 3 9 111 53 69

Wolviston 35 21 6 8 96 56 69

*Boldon 35 22 3 10 97 59 66

Windscale 30 18 5 7 78 36 59

*Redcar Town 33 18 7 8 84 51 58

Whitehaven 33 17 5 11 73 59 56

Stokesley 34 16 6 12 86 61 54

New Marske 32 16 6 10 69 46 54

Ferryhill Athletic 34 14 4 16 73 79 46

Thornaby on Tees 32 12 6 14 76 88 42

Stanley United 33 10 11 12 68 68 41

*Annfield Plain 34 12 3 19 79 87 36

**Birtley Town 33 12 4 17 69 79 34

Ryhope 36 6 5 25 44 98 23

Cleadon 34 6 4 24 43 104 22

Simonside 32 6 2 24 28 147 20

Jarrow 32 4 6 22 40 94 18

Whitburn 35 2 1 32 35 164 7

**Denotes six points deducted

*Denotes three points deducted