Bishop Auckland missed a chance to go fourth in the EBAC Northern League when they were beaten 4-1 at home by Whitley Bay last night.

Whitley took the lead when Steve Salvin slipped, allowing Denver Morris to run through and set up Ashley Davis for a simple tap in, but Bishops levelled when Sonny Andrews crossed from the right for Kieran Megran to score from a tight angle.

Andrew Johnson and then Dan Hawkins both hit the post in the space of a minute, and Whitley took the lead after the restart when Brian Smith nodded down a left wing corner for Paul Chow to slide home. Paul Robinson got the third with a mishit shot that deceived Peter Jeffries on the way in, and then Robinson got another from a few yards after 77 minutes.

Whitley Bay manager Ian Chandler said: "We've been playing like that for a few weeks now. It seems to be clicking now and we are putting the chances away. It was a great performance against a very good team."

Managerless Durham City lost 1-0 at Newcastle Benfield, for whom Richie Slaughter scored just before half time. Benfield manager Perry Briggs said: "I'm pleased with the result, becasue we put out a young side that playd well in patches. "

Billingham Synthonia are now in the top six after they won 3-0 at Marske United.

They took the lead when Ross Gardner headed in a Steve Huggins corner, then Dan Newby added the second with a low shot after 53 minutes. Aidan Cattermole scored the third from the spot .

Billingham Synthonia manager Micky Watson said: "It was a top performance, it was our best 90 minutes of the season. We controlled it all the way through the game."

 

In the second division, Ryton moved off the bottom of the table by beating Whickham 3-0. Whickham manager Robin Falcus said: "I'm really disappointed with our performance, I thought we were outfought and didn't deserve anything from the game. We must pick ourselves up now and move on."

 

In the league cup, Darlington RA had an excellent 4-1 away win at Horden, Steve Allison scoring two of the goals. RA assistant manager Jamie Smith said: "I thought we moved the ball around extremely well and scored some good goals, and in teh second half we kept our composure, because there were some bad tackles coming in on us, which made the game start stop. I would really liked to have seen us have more killer spirit and finish teams off when we are on top."

West Allotment beat Chester-le-Street 2-1, Sean Reid scoring a late winner for Allotment after Kristian Wilkinson cancelled out David Dormand’s opener. West Allotment manager Paul Stoneman said: "We struggled for the first 35 minutes then we changed our shape and steadily took control, We changed the team around a lot tonight and rested seven regulars. The lads who came in did a good job."

Chester-le-Street manager Colin Wake said: "I was really disappointed with the result after an excellent performance in which we hit the woodwork three times. A late penalty cost us against our bogey side -- we've never beaten them."

 

Esh Winning won 2-1 at Washington, who took the lead through Martin Roper on 55 minutes, but in the 90th minute Craig Mickle equalised. Alex Wilson scored the winner five minutes from the end of extra time. Esh Winning manager Andrew Soppitt said: "We were very poor for 70 minutes but a couple of changs helped us create a few chances and we could have scored more."
Stokesley and Tow Law shared ten goals and went all the way to penalties, before Tow Law won the shootout 7-6. Ben Bonner scored a hat trick for Stokesley, with Greg Upton and Gary Readman scoring the others, while Dan Wilson (3), Carl Pottinger and Shaun Ryder scored for Tow Law.

Stokesley assistant manager Chris Lax said: "To lose on penalties is disappointing. However, having been 2-0 down to come back and lead 4-2, we should have tightened up amd won the game. There are lessons to be learned, but plenty of positives to come from it."