Friendship will go out of the window when Stokesley take on Norton tonight at Broughton Road.

Stokesley are battling to avoid the third relegation place against West Allotment, and following Allotment’s 0-0 draw with Bishop Auckland on Wednesday night, Stokesley are now three points above the drop zone with two games in hand, and manager Ted Watts said: “I’m good friends with the Norton manager Conrad Hillerby off the pitch, but not when it comes to kick off time!”

Striker Adam Emson and defender Adam McMahon are missing because of injury for Stokesley, while Norton, who drew on Tuesday night at South Shields, are missing Cal Brown with a suspected broken nose, while Craig Gott, Steve Baker and Karl Richards are all missing. Jamie Owens returns to the side.

Dunston, who are at Bedlington , are without several players, including Lee Bell, Lee McAndrew and Steve Goddard.

There’s a big game in the second division, with the bottom two, Brandon and Morpeth, facing each other at the Welfare Ground. Recent signing Tim Bowman is unavailable for Brandon as well as Craig Mountain and Ian Race, but Liam Bowes, Marc Costello and Ian Pritchard all return.

If Brandon win, then Morpeth will almost certainly finish bottom.