Bishop Auckland manager Ian Chandler praised the character of his players after they pulled off a 3-2 away win at fourth placed Sunderland RCA in the ENL First Division.

Bishops have been badly hit by injuries and Chandler has recruited players to fill the gaps, and his patched-up team responded well.

Kieran Parnaby and Jamie Tumilty put Bishops 2-0 up by the 25th minute, but RCA hit back through Michael Charlton and Dylan Elliott. However, Jordan Lee fired the winner for Bishops.

Manager Ian Chandler said; “We were down to the bare bones and the team picked itself. We were full of young lads who put in a brilliant shift which saw us play our best football of the season. Special mentions to Daryll Hall and Keiron Parnaby who both played injured, Daryll the full 90. Excellent performances from all but man of the match to Ryan Robinson.”

Bishops are now up to eighth in the table.

West Auckland’s revival continued when they won 3-1 at Whitley Bay.

David Dowson scored twice for West in the first half, with Callum Guy making it 3-0 seven minutes into the second half. Craig Spooner pulled a goal back for Whitley.

West Auckland manager Gary Forrest said; “Another win, we were fab for 60 minutes then stopped playing. We’re getting some momentum now.” West are now nicely in midtable.

In the other first division matches, Hebburn are now seven points clear at the top after a hat trick by Graeme Armstrong helped them to a 5-1 away win at North Shields. Consett won 2-1 at Penrith, while Ashington beat Newcastle Benfield 3-1.

In the second division, Willington lost a goal feast by 6-4 against Washington.

It took them until they were 5-0 down to get going. Luke Bailey and Vinny Gash pulled two goals back, and after Washington made it 6-2, Kyle Wren and Tyler Marquis scored two more.

Willington manager Ibby Hassan said; “One for the neutral with ten goals but a very disappointing performance defensively from us. I felt Washington looked after the ball well and troubled us with their third man runners. They deserved the win, but it certainly was a game we should have been looking to win if we want to be in and around the top of the table come the end of the season. I thought moments of naivety cost us and we need to shore up our defence for a huge game next week.”

Chester-le-Street went down 3-1 at Newcastle University, Michael Hepplewhite scoring their goal.

Manager Colin Wake said; “It was a really poor performance from warm up to 90 minutes. The Uni were hard working and efficient but we never got going. We made a few half chances when we did get it down and play, but in truth we deserved nothing for a lack lustre performance which is frustrating given our recent upturn in performance. The Uni front two were a handful and rightfully won them the game.”

Brandon are still second bottom after they lost 4-1 at home to Heaton Stannington, Lewis Martin scoring their goal when they were already 2-0 down.

Brandon manager Rob Bowron said; “We were poor today. We were well below standard and the lads know that. We cannot keep conceding early doors. We did really well to come back into the game, only for another sloppy goal which was the killer.”

Redcar are now top of the table thanks to a 3-2 win at Bedlington, while Birtley beat Carlisle City 3-0.