Chester-le-Street produced the shock result of the day when they thumped Hebburn 4-0 at Chester Moor, their best win yet under manager Anth Smith.

Teenager Callum Patton enhanced his growing reputation by scoring twice to give him four goals in his last three matches, with Michael Coghlan and Scott Swanston scoring the others.

Chester have jumped three places to sixth bottom. It was the first time this season that Hebburn had failed to score in a league game.

Chester-le-Street manager Anth Smith said: “A result like that has been coming, we’ve been slowly getting there in recent games. We could have scored more with the chances we created.”

Leaders Team Northumbria look well in control at the top after they won 4-1 at Birtley. TN striker Peter Watling scored twice to give him 20 league goals for the season, six ahead of the rest. Birtley have now dropped into fifth. Graeme Cairns and Liam Clough scored TN’s other goals, with Steve Telford replying for Birtley when the score was 3-0.

Birtley manager Scott Oliver said: “We played our best for several weeks, but they are a clever team.”

Team Northumbria director of football Paul Johnson said: “We made changes from Wednesday’s game to bring in fresh legs and it worked. We had a great first half with some really good build up play which led to us being 2-0 up. Then second half, although we didn’t play as well as we can going forward, we looked solid and scored another two, so looks like we are back on track after a few poor games.”

Whickham were beaten 2-1 at home by North Shields, who now leapfrog over them into second. Whickham took the lead after 46 minutes through Kieran Wrightson, but Shields came storming back through Scott Blandford’s effort. A draw looked likely until Paul Gordon fired the winner with eight minutes left. Shields are now unbeaten in 22 away league games, a club record.

North Shields manager Anthony Woodhouse said: “It was a fantastic, gritty performance. We should have been 2-1 up at half time, but it was 0-0 instead. The second half was more even, but we wanted it more and stole it late on.”

West Allotment beat Darlington RA 3-2. Graham Whitehead gave the RA an early lead, but Scott Fenwick and Dean Lee put Allotment 2-1 up before half time. Tony Lancaster added a third, before Paul Freary scored a late goal for the RA, who have now dropped into the bottom half of the table.

West Allotment manager Paul Stoneman said: “I’m delighted with the three points. I told the lads that I didn’t care how, but we needed the win. From day one we’ve tried to play football and in the first half we did and went in 3-1. The second proved we can dig in and grind a result out because they had a lot of the play.”

Darlington RA manager Nick Harrison said: “We were dreadful first half. There was no fire on our bellies and too many passengers. Second half we were much better but I’m getting sick of Jekyll and Hyde performances.”

Crook Town hit top form in the second half of their game against Ryton. Crook were held to a goalless draw at half time, but in the second half turned on the style, scoring six to record their fifth win in six games. Andy Appleby, who recently returned to the club from Newton Aycliffe, scored twice, with Richard Hodgson, Kyle Davis, Dan Corbett and Luke Proctor scoring the others.

Crook Town joint manager Paul Adamson said: “I was worried that the players were sloppy in the first half, but after half time the game turned after the first goal. We played some very good football after that.”

Ryton manager Dave Hagan said: “We conceded an unbelievable penalty, when our player put a tackle in when the Crook player was going away from goal. The last half hour was disgraceful when we conceded six goals. It’s always our players’ bad decisions that lead to our downfalls.”

Esh Winning ended Seaham’s recent good run with a 4-1 home win at Waterhouses. Kevin Gordon put Seaham into the lead, but Esh striker Craig Mickle hit back with two and Darren Kokes another before half time. Kieron Megran added a fourth near the end.

Seaham Red Star manager Steve Cook said: “We were beaten by a more organised team with desire and they played the conditions better. We improved slightly after the break, but we’ll take our lesson and move on.”

Esh Winning manager Andrew Soppitt said: “I thought today's game we dominated from start to finish. First half we went forward and created chances at will. We showed great character to come from behind as Seaham scored against the run of play. Once we scored the first we settled down and took a quick 3 - 1 lead. Second half we defended well as a team and counter attacked quickly. Luke Wilson made his debut and looked very sharp and keeper Carl Morris came in and also impressed.”

Thornaby recorded the biggest home win in the second division this season when they hammered Easington 7-1 at Teesdale Park. Thornaby played some of their best football of the season as they brushed third bottom Easington aside, and strengthen their promotion challenge. Graeme Baverstock, Paul Thorns and Craig Skelton all scored two apiece, with Lee Farrington scoring the other.

Easington’s woes could increase this week, as they are due in front of the league’s management committee and could have three points deducted for failing to fulfil their fixture at Gillford Park last month.

Thornaby manager Ray Morton said: “It’s the first time since I’ve been at the club that we’ve scored seven. It was a comprehensive win. We passed the ball around well and played some good stuff.”

Northallerton edged past Morpeth by 4-3 to put them just four points behind the promotion race, mainly thanks to a Peter Bulmer hat trick.

Bulmer put them in front from an early free kick, and after Morpeth levelled through David Dormand, under pressure Morpeth defender Marc Walmsley put through his own goal. Bulmer volleyed Northallerton further ahead, only for Dormand to pull a goal back. Bulmer completed his hat trick from a rebound, only for Morpeth to reply again through Neil Johnstone.

Northallerton manager Mark Fanning said: “Morpeth gave us what we expected, a really tough game. Even after Morpeth were down to ten men because of injuries, they still had a go at us. We were glad to hear the final whistle.”

Brandon won their fourth successive game, beating Horden 1-0 with a goal by Lewis Wing just eight minutes from time.

Horden manager Brian Honour said: “The best team won, we were awful.”

Washington ended a run of seven straight defeats when they drew 2-2 with Whitehaven. Daniel Young gave Washington a 20th minute lead, but Leigh Dunn put Whitehaven 2-1 up with two goals in 20 minutes in the second half. After Michael Latimer missed a penalty for Washington, Ian Lee equalised.