Easington dramatically quit the Northern League on Saturday night after they were hammered 14-0 at league leaders Team Northumbria.

The 99 year old club were promoted from the Wearside League at the end of last season after a five year absence from the Northern League, but have been bottom of the second division for most of the season. Saturday’s defeat was the latest in a long list of woes, and the club informed the league by e mail soon after the game that they had decided to fold. There have been question marks over them ever since they failed to fulfil an away game at Gillford Park earlier in the season, and were fined heavily and had three points deducted by the league as a result, but they were thought to have stabilised following the return of manager Andy Colledge, although earlier this month had to postpone a game because of floodlight problems.

League chairman Mike Amos said: “Usually, I would try and launch some sort of rescue mission, but the club is beyond hope, I’m afraid. They have a small bunch of hard-working volunteers, but the rest of the community doesn’t care and just isn’t interested. You would have thought that a community with its roots in football would care more, and you wouldn’t believe that it’s just a few years since around a thousand turned up to see them play Chester in the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup.

“I’m afraid to say that it has been coming. The club has been dogged with misfortune ever since the first week of the season.”

Club secretary Alan Purves, who lives in Jarrow, resigned recently because of ill health, and to add to their problems, manager Andy Colledge couldn’t go to the game on Saturday because of illness.

Saturday’s 14-0 victory was Team Northumbria’s record win as a club, but that will now be scrubbed, along with all of Easington’s other results. TN’s record therefore only stood for five hours, and centre forward Peter Watling, who scored five of his team’s goals to give him 33 league goals for the season, will also have those removed. The withdrawal also means that no club will be relegated from the second division.

North Shields’ 16 month unbeaten away league record came to an end at Washington by 2-1. Lee Hamilton opened the scoring for Washington from a Chris Tait pass on 29 minutes, and even though Shields improved in the second half, he got a second on 63 minutes. Dean Holmes pulled a goal back in stoppage time.

North Shields manager Anthony Woodhosue said: “We were a bit rusty after a three week break, but that’s no excuse.”

Birtley are creeping up on the leaders, and they are now unbeaten in nine league games after winning 3-1 away at Ryton and Crawcrook. Craig Marron gave Birtley an early lead, but Andrew Dobbie equalised for Ryton. The home side were getting on top, until Dan Smart broke away and put Birtley back into the lead. And shortly after, Smart added another for his 19th league goal of the season.

Ryton manager Dave Hagan said: “We got out of jail in the first half, they got out of jail in the second half. We battered them after equalising until we gave the ball away under no pressure and they broke away and scored. It knocked the stuffing out of us.”

Birtley manager Scott Oliver said: “We deserved the win our forwards were sharp all day. We have a great will to win and to go nine unbeaten with no budget is remarkable.”

West Allotment won their home game against Alnwick in the seventh minute of stoppage time by 3-2. Alnwick led 2-0 at one stage through two goals by John Colley, but Allotment hit back in the second half through Gary Day, Chris Rue and late on through David Henderson.

West Allotment manager Paul Stoneman said: “We were poor 1st half and deservedly went 2-0 down but to be fair to the lads we never gave up and deserved the win after our 2nd half performance it could of easily been 8-4 to us there was some slack defending by both teams.”

Northallerton’s challenge is slipping after they lost their fourth successive league game, this time by 5-2 at Whitehaven. Leigh Dunn scored a hat trick for Whitehaven, with Kevin Connelly getting the other two. Colin Anderson and Darren Mowbray replied for Northallerton, whose manager Mark Fanning said: “As a team we don't defend well enough. We're happy going forward but once we lose possession too many not doing their jobs. We paid the price today.”

Chester-le-Street are now eight points clear of the bottom two after they won 2-0 away at Brandon. Tom Vickers opened the scoring in a scramble from a corner before half time, and then got the second following a mix up between the Brandon keeper and defender.

Chester-le-Street manager Anthony Smith said: “It was a good performance on a poor pitch. Both teams tried to play the right way. We had a good goal disallowed then scored just before half time which was good for us. Brandon pressed for the first 20 minutes of the second half but we withstood the pressure and created a few chances. The second goal killed them off and was a mistake from their keeper and central defender.”

Seaham Red Star pushed Horden down to the new bottom place with a 2-1 home win over Thornaby, who have now failed to win any of their last eleven league matches. Kevin Gordon put Seaham into the lead, and even though Marcus Laing pulled a goal back, Michael Chapman got the winner with just a few minutes remaining.

Seaham manager Steve Cook said: “A workman-like performance where we got back to basics and played simple percentage football and it brought the much needed three points that the application and attitude of the lads deserved. Nice to get back to winning ways.”

Thornaby manager Ray Morton said: “It was a poor first half. At 1 0 down scored good equaliser, and we dominated second half and couldn’t get the winner. A defensive error with a few minutes left gave Seaham the points.”