SPENNYMOOR TOWN manager Jason Ainsley blasted his players for some “shambolic defending” after relegationbattling Stokesley pulled off one of the shock results of the season, beating the champions 3-2.

Moors, who are in the last 16 of the Vase, in the running to win their second successive title and two other cups, were dreadful defensively, according to a concerned Ainsley.

“We were a shambles in defence,”

he said. “You wouldn’t have thought we’ve got the best defensive record in the league, by the way we defended.

“I would say that it was schoolboy defending, but I would be disrespectful to schoolboys. Stokesley put three balls into our box, and we failed to deal with any of them.

“We’re not going to win anything if we continue to defend like that.”

Stokesley took the lead when Anthony Hume set up Glenn Robson to quickly turn and fire past Craig Turns.

Moors piled on the pressure, and equalised five minutes into the second half when Tommy English crossed for Lewis Dodds to head in.

But Stokesley regained the lead on 78 minutes with a strike by Lev Yalcin, but Moors managed to equalise through Leon Ryan following a short corner, and looked set to go on and win. But Moors’ defending let them down again when Robson scored from a Yalcin cross.

Stokesley manager Ted Watts said: “For long periods in the game we were under the cosh but we defended well and took our goals well.”

The result puts Stokesley level on points with West Allotment and a point behind Bishop Auckland.

West Auckland are up to fourth after they won 2-1 at Ashington. West missed some good chances in the first 20 minutes but they had keeper Billy Hanson to thank at the other end for stopping Phil Bell’s spot kick.

When West were awarded a penalty themselves after Matty Tymon was fouled, Mattie Moffat converted his 14th league goal of the season.

Chances continued to fall to both sides and midway through the second half Chris Lund crossed for Steve Brown to score from a few yards.

Ashington pulled a goal back through an Andy Johnson header and West had their backs to the wall for the last 15 minutes.

West boss Peter Dixon said: “We were hanging on at the end, but only because we didn’t take our chances early in the game.”

In the second division, Newton Aycliffe easily brushed Washington aside 4-0 to stay eleven points clear at the top.

They took the lead when Elliott Gardiner burst through from midfield and scored with a low left-foot shot, and soon after the division’s leading scorer, Warren Byrne, turned quickly and found the top corner with a left-foot effort.

Byrne scored the third from the spot after 53 minutes following a foul on Sean Tarling, an incident that saw Washington’s Andy Inness redcarded for foul and abusive language. Gardiner finished off Washington from a leftwing cross by Anthony Campbell, and was denied a hattrick by the post.

Aycliffe boss Alan Oliver said: “We’ve got a decent squad at the moment but we’re not getting carried away, there’s no way we can relax.”

Washington manager David Lee said: “We gave them too much respect.,”

Washington have submitted a provisional resignation to the league, but will withdraw it when they have formal agreement to use Nissan’s facilities, where they are currently playing.

Guisborough beat bottom club Brandon 4-0 at the King George. David Onions put them into the lead with a deflected shot after 20 minutes, and Luke Bythway headed the second just after half-time.

Onions added the third from close range, then Chris I’Anson fired the fourth.

“It was a good win for us,”

said Guisborough manager Chris Hardy. “We kept a clean sheet and improved our goal difference.”

Marske United are in clear fourth after they beat fellow promotion rivals Team Northumbria.

There were few chances in a poor game and Marske made the breakthrough when Karl Charlton floated a free kick over from the left and Benn Thompson set up Anthony Roberts to score his first goal in 98 matches.

Marske should have had a second, but Thompson missed a penalty in the second half.

“It was a poor game, but at least we got the points,” said Marske boss Paul Burton.

“We’ve played much better this season and lost.”

Northallerton are up to fifth bottom thanks to a 2-1 win at bottom club Morpeth.

The home side, who haven’t won this season, took the lead through Danny Carr after 12 minutes, but Northallerton equalised through a Darren Mowbray penalty following a foul on Matthew Coad before half-time.

They got the winner when Aaron Ramsbottom’s cross was helped into the net by the Morpeth keeper.

Northallerton manager Mark Fanning said: “It was a very tricky surface, hard in some areas and soft in others.

Having said that, we were keen to play because we didn’t want to go back up there for a midweek game later in the season.”

Crook striker Andy Appleby scored all four of his side’s goals in their win over Darlington RA, to become the third player to score four goals in a league game against the RA this season.

He opened the scoring after 25 minutes when he held off a defender and fired past the RA keeper, and a few minutes later he notched his second in a goalmouth scramble.

He completed his hat-trick before half-time from the spot after Darren Kokes was brought down, and his fourth was the goal of the game, a good header from a Martin O’Riordan cross.

“Andy was superb and he could have scored more. The RA just couldn’t handle him,”

said Crook boss Brian Maitland, who has signed defender Dan Sanders from Durham City Hebburn won 2-0 at Horden, who have now dropped to fourth from bottom.

Former West Brom midfielder Stuart Nicholson fired Hebburn into the lead after 34 minutes with his tenth of the season, but he was later redcarded for a two-footed tackle, a decision which saw the Hebburn management team sent from the bench for protesting.

With Horden pushing everyone forward for the equaliser, Stephen Forster caught them on the break and scored a second..

All the other games in the Northern League, and the Evostik games involving Whitby and Durham, were postponed.