Bishop Auckland produced their best performance of the season when they thumped Seaham Red Star 6-1 at Heritage Park on Saturday.

Bishops destroyed Seaham with four goals in the second half, and in turn they now have lost just once in seven league matches.

Manager Ian Chandler said; “All round it was a very good performance from the team with some brilliant individual displays and every goal was tremendous. Callum Munro and Michael Hoganson scored two unreal strikes. It was some of the best football we've played all season.

“We started the first half well, scored the two goals, but we weren’t playing fluent football. We gave the ball away in the wrong places and made the game a little bit harder.

“We played some great football in the second half, and the score very quickly became 6-1.”

They took the lead after 5 minutes, when Shaun Ryder, who hit the bar in the opening minute, charged through and scored, and they had two more disallowed before Kyle Patton fired home.

Seaham pulled one back through a Dan Wilson penalty, but Bishops moved up another gear in the second half.

Michael Hoganson blasted in a free kick for 3-1 on 47 minutes, and Niall McGoldrick got the fourth with a header.

Callum Munro scored a beauty for 5-1 on 55 minutes, and Seaham were still reeling when Lewis Gibbons scored the sixth.

West Auckland were also amongst the goals, hammering Newton Aycliffe 7-0 in their local derby.

After a goalless first half hour, Amar Purewal headed West into the lead, then Adam Mitchell fired the second before half time.

West scored four times in ten minutes in the second half through Purewal, Nathan Fisher (2) and Thomas Price before Purewal completed his hat trick late on. Fisher has now scored ten times this season.

West Auckland manager Gary Forrest said; “It was a good win, nice to get some goals and another clean sheet.”

Newton Aycliffe manager Deano Browne said; “We got outclassed by a better team, we had a couple of chances at 0-0 early on but then West dominated all over the park.”

League leaders Shildon lost 3-1 at home to Hebburn in their top of the table clash.

James Fairley put Hebburn into the lead from a Graeme Armstrong assists on 12 minutes, then Lee Kerr set up Michael Richardson for a second.

Shildon pulled a goal back in the second half through Danny Earl, but Hebburn gained the points when Shildon defender Dom Curl put an Andrew Stephenson free kick through his own goal.

In the other first division matches, Ashington beat Whickham with a last minute goal, while North Shields won 3-0 at Penrith.

In the second division, Chester-le-Street still have a 100 per cent record after they won 2-0 at West Allotment. Josh King, who has recently returned to the club after a spell at Carlisle, scored both goals late in the game.

Chester-le-Street manager Colin Wake said; “It was a good first half performance in which we dominated but then a poor second in which we lost the initiative and drive. The game turned on a penalty save by our keeper Scott Cresswell and we scored two good goals late in the game to cap another good win but not a good performance.”

Durham City manager Mike Weston quit after their 2-1 away defeat at Birtley – they haven’t won since the opening day of the season at Willington.

They did manage to score their first goal since the opening day, an own goal, after 73 minutes when they were already 2-0 down.

Durham manager Mike Weston said; “After two improving performances and been very unlucky, it was another narrow defeat.

“I have agreed to step down. I want to put on record I did everything that the club asked of me, fielding a side to compete but that wasn't enough. Bringing players in is hard with no budget but we can't live on promises, good luck for the future.”

Crook Town are nicely in the promotion race in eighth place after they beat Brandon 3-2 at the Millfield.

Crook led 2-0 at one stage with goals by Liam Jarvie and Nathan Stephenson by the half hour, but Brandon hit back with strikes by Lee Blades and Sam Joyce in the second half. Chris Dunwell got the winner with ten minutes left.

Manager Jamie Tunstall said; “After Tuesday’s defeat we needed a reaction from the lads and whilst we still weren’t at our best, I was delighted to get three points.

“Being pegged back in the second half, the lads showed great character to get us back in front, and overall were delighted with three points.”

Willington were held to a 2-2 draw by Billingham Synthonia, even though they had a man advantage for more than half the game. There was a flare up near the end of the first half which saw Willington’s Lewis Milner red carded along with Billingham’s Nico Weatherald and Ryan Grier. Dean Thexton and Conor Winter in turn put Willington into the lead, only for Kallum Hannah to twice equalise.

In the other games, Redcar Athletic scored twice in the last three minutes to earn them a 2-2 draw at Jarrow.

Washington shocked high flying Easington 2-1, Ryton won 3-1 at Heaton Stannington, and Thornaby are nicely in promotion contention with a 3-0 home win over Bedlington.

Dunston UTS caused a big upset in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup when they beat North Ferriby from the EvoStik League 4-1 on Saturday.

Dunston got off to a great start when Liam Brooks scored after 3 minutes, then Scott Heslop and Mark Fitzpatrick scored twice in the space of three minutes in the second half for 3-0. Ferriby, who were in the National League just two seasons ago, pulled a goal back, but Liam Thear scored a late fourth.

Whitley Bay beat Evostik League Whitby thanks to a Jack Foalle goal, and Newcastle Benfield scored a late goal through Dale Pearson to earn a 1-1 draw against Workington.

Consett are still unbeaten this season after Michael Sweet scored the winner at Congleton, while Morpeth drew 1-1 at Ashton Athletic.

There was no fairytale for Guisborough’s goalscoring keeper Jordan Nixon, because they lost 4-0 at home to Farsley Celtic. South Shields easily beat Garforth Town 5-1 at Filtrona Park.