Bishop Auckland manager Tony Lee paid the price for two poor performances in national cup competitions in the space of four days when he was shown the exit door following the 3-1 defeat at ten man Eccleshill in the FA Carlsberg Vase on Saturday.

Lee apologised to the travelling supporters for what he described as “the worst performance by one of my teams in 15 years” and later in the evening the club announced that he had left by mutual consent.

Secretary John Stubbs said: “We have two very bad cup defeats in the space of a week, and we decided to make a sensible footballing decision. There’s no panic, no crisis, nothing untoward, we just felt that there needed to be a change.

“In the space of a fortnight, we seemed to have gone from being a very good side, to a very ordinary one, to a very poor one that lost to a team from a level below ourselves.

“At Eccleshill on Saturday, all the players were poor apart from the keeper. They have let Tony and the club down badly.”

Lee admitted that he was “very shocked” by the development, and said: “I was told that the board thought I had lost the team, but I really thought that I would have put things right. I got the job about a month before the start of the season, and had to replace six players who had left during the summer. I’m absolutely gutted.”

Ironically, in his post match comments immediately after the game, Lee had said, when referring to the players, that “the excuses time had finished.”

Bishops defeated Tadcaster and Goole on their travels in the FA Cup this season, but they showed little sign of the same fighting spirit in this game.

They went a goal down after just 2 minutes, and six minutes later Eccleshill had a man sent off for a foul on Luke Bythway.

It took them until half time to level through Kieran Megran, but Eccleshill recovered in the second half and they regained the lead on 79 minutes.

And five minutes later, the ten men scored another when Lee Bythway misjudged a back pass, and Eccleshill took full advantage.

Bishops lost 2-0 to Guisborough in a midweek FA Cup replay, in which they missed a second half penalty – only days after missing another spot kick in the original tie.

There were no such problems for Crook Town, who had an excellent 6-2 away win at Pickering, even though they only had twelve fit players.

Manager Gary Pearson revealed that his team talk was done for him by the Pickering fans. “When we arrived at the ground, they had written us off because of the injuries we had, and that was enough for my team talk.”

Pickering took the lead after 6 minutes through Nathan Cook from a header, but Kyle Davis scored a good goal for the equaliser.

At the start of the second half, Warren Byrne lobbed the keeper to put Crook back into the lead, and then Pickering equalised through Joe Danby. But Crook recovered, and produced a storming finish to the game, with two more each for Davis and Byrne, who completed his hat trick with a cheeky penalty.

Marske United’s unbeaten start to the season is now twelve matches after they beat Knaresborough 2-0 at Mount Pleasant.

It took them until just before half time to open the scoring through John Alexander from a Josh MacDonald assist, and Liam O’Sullivan got the second with a 20 yard free kick.

Marske manager Ted Watts said: “It was a slow start, but we got going in the second half, our passing improved, and in the end, it was an easy win.”

Consett led 2-0 and then 3-2 against Nelson from the North West Counties League, but conceded two goals in the last ten minutes and lost 4-3.

Michael Mackay put then in front with a right foot shot, and Luke Sullivan scored the second with a shot into the bottom corner. Nelson scored twice by the 25th minute through Ritchie Allen and Liam Boswell, but Sullivan restored the lead on 55 minutes. However, Consett had keeper Jack Norton sent off, and Nelson took full advantage to fight back and win through Peter Wright and Allen.

Consett manager Kenny Lindoe said: “We were 3-2 up, but we were down to ten men and gave away two howlers, the first with 10 minutes left and the second right on full time, as well as missing too many chances. They won’t go very far, but they’ll be in the draw.”

Billingham Synthonia kept their cool and won 3-2 at Albion Sports after being 2-0 down at half time. Albion scored twice within three minutes midway through the first half, but then Synners themselves scored twice within four minutes in the second half through Matty Osmond and Michael Sweet. And it was Sweet who got the winner for Synners in the second period of extra time.

Billingham Synthonia assistant manager Lee Tucker said: “We showed great character and after a poor first half we dominated proceedings and deserved to go through.”

North Shields also had a good win in extra time by 4-2 at Silsden. Gareth Bainbridge gave Shields a 17th minute lead, and they held on to it until four minutes from the end. Bainbridge and Dean Walker scored in the first period of extra time, and after Kristian Hargreaves pulled a goal back, Bainbridge completed his hat trick in the last minute.

Newcastle Benfield knocked out Barnoldswick from the North West Counties League by 3-1. Steven Baptist gave them the lead after 10 minutes, only for Aaron Hollindrake to equalise. Baptist made it 2-1 before half time, and James Luccock made sure in the last minute.

Newcastle Benfield manager Steve Bowey said: “We didn’t play as well as we could but the result is the most important thing. Coxy and Baptist were excellent but as a team we are looking really strong. I’m a happy manager.”

Guisborough won the all Northern League tie against Durham City by 3-1 at the King George. Guisborough took the lead when Curtis Round and James Risborough combined for Mikey Roberts to fire home on 13 minutes, but ten minutes later Craig Ellison headed the equaliser.

Roberts restored Guisborough’s lead with a low shot midway through the second half, then David Onions grabbed the third after Danny Johnson’s shot had come back off the post.

Durham manager Adam Furness said: “I’m bitterly disappointed and frustrated with our display. I thought the half time score was about right, but then for the first 15-20 minutes of the second half we totally dominated. The same problem has come back to haunt us again though with missed chance after missed chance before getting hit on the counter attack. We’re then chasing the game and concede a third goal and credit to Guisborough for seeing the game off.”

Jarrow Roofing left it late before beating Willington 2-1. Dean Nicholson gave them the lead after 7 minutes from an acute angle, but Willington battled back and levelled with an effort by Corey Nicholson from the edge of the box on 21 minutes. Roofing were reduced to ten men when Stuart Nicholson was dismissed early in the second half, and just as the game was heading for extra time, Dean Nicholson fired the winner from a free kick for Roofing.

Jarrow Roofing joint manager Paul Bennett said: “I didn’t think we were under much of a threat when we went down to ten men. Dean scored a good winner.”

Willington manager Rob Lee said: “We aren’t getting the run of the green at present. We had a good penalty shout turned down. Their manager agreed it was a penalty but that’s the way it’s going at present.”

Birtley led 3-1 at neighbours Whickham at one point, but lost 5-3. Curtis Coppen, Callum Hope and Dan Taggart scored for Birtley, with Stephen Aiston (2), Tony Thirkell, Craig Rook and Michael Hedley scoring for Whickham.

Birtley manager Paul Bryson said: “I’m really disappointed to lose after leading 3-1. A bad goalkeeping error made it 3-2 and we showed our inexperience and crumbled.”

Morpeth won 3-0 at Washington, getting off to a good start with a goal by Stephen Forster and in the last 15 minutes Sean Taylor added two more.

Washington have appointed Steve Hutchinson as their new manager instead of Chris Martin, who has stood down because of work and family commitments.

Sunderland RCA won 4-2 at Team Northumbria, who took an early lead through Peter Watling. However, Gavin Barton scored with two headers to put the RCA back in the game, and they made it 3-1 through Stuart Thompson. After RCA keeper Peter Jameson saved a penalty, a defensive mistake allowed Dave Colvin to pull a goal back, but Kyle Morris scored a fourth at the other end.

Sunderland RCA manager Neil Hixon said: “It was a good result, but disappointed with our defending again.”

Team Northumbria manager Paul Johnson said: “How did we not win the game? We created so much in the game, had 1 v 1s against their keeper only to get punished by four mistakes at the back. The lads worked so hard and their attitude was spot on so it will only be a matter of time before we turn the corner and get out of this rut.”

South Shields and Billingham Town must replay tomorrow night after drawing 4-4 at Peterlee. Shields took an early two goal lead through Jordan Fraser and Colin White, but Town hit back with an Anthony Ormerod header and a James McLeod effort from a free kick. Shields went 3-2 up again through Tony Burnell on 80 minutes, but Karl Charlton fired into the bottom corner for the equaliser. With five minutes left, Luke Richardson scored for Shields, but with three minutes left Charlton squeezed in the equaliser.

South Shields manager Jon King said: “We should have been out of sight at 2-0, and at 4-3 we thought it was game over. We gave them three goals on a plate.”

Billingham Town manager Paul Burton said: “Everything that I was disappointed with last week was the opposite. At least we stopped our losing run.”

West Allotment had two men sent off in their 4-1 away defeat at Penrith. Leigh Dunn gave them an early lead, but Cameron Wilson and Stephen Rigg put Penrith in front. Allotment keeper Ryan Beal stopped two penalties, before Allotment had Paul Stoneman and Michael Bell sent off. Penrith then added further goals through Rigg and Ricky Faustino.

West Allotment manager Paul Stoneman said: “I’m gutted for the lads. 11 v 11 we were the better team but it says something when there are two penalties against you and two red cards which should never have been. Our keeper saved both penalties but we couldn’t last the last half hour with nine men, didn’t deserve that at all.”

Darlington RA led Thackley, the leaders of the Northern Counties East League one point, but they lost 5-1. Jimmy Muir gave them the lead from the penalty spot after Fred Huscroft was fouled, but three goals in ten minutes from Mike Mathers, Luke Richardson and Mike Morgan gave the visitors the advantage, which they added to in the second half with goals from Mathers and Mike Garrod.

Darlington RA manager Nick Harrison said: “I thought we matched them for 35 minutes, but then the three goals in ten minutes gave us far too much to do.”

Ryton and Crawcrook had a bad day out in Cumbria, losing 5-1 at Holker Old Boys, Dean Sinclair scoring their goal.