In the second division, Norton climbed over Washington into second by comfortably winning 5-0 at Birtley. Nicky Martin, Karl Charlton, Gary Mitchell and Matthew Hawkins (2) scored their goals.

Norton manager Andy Campbell said; “We’re back to winning ways. We played really well and created plenty of chances. Now we need to carry this on.”

Washington dropped a place because they were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Northallerton. Dale Elgie put Northallerton into the lead, but Mark Davison equalised.

Northallerton manager Danny Mellanby said; “I’m pleased with the performance of the players, it was a deserved point against a good side.”

Team Northumbria easily beat bottom club Brandon 5-1, with David Dormand scoring a hat trick. Luke Hannant and Louis Storey scored their other goals, with James Ellis scoring for Brandon, which was the first goal in the game.

Hebburn are still keeping the pressure on the leading group and they won their eighth successive game when they beat Willington 2-1.

Marc Costello put Hebburn into the lead after 8 minutes, but Adam Comby levelled for Willington midway through the half. However, Channon North got the winner on 57 minutes, his 33rd league goal of the season.

Willington had Stephen Howe dismissed for two yellows.

Hebburn manager Scott Oliver said; “I think we deserved the win. We created the better chances. Willington were a constant threat on the break.”

Willington manager Rob Lee said; “I thought a draw would have been a fair result. We went down to ten men and could have got a point.”

Esh Winning continued their revival when they won 2-1 at Thornaby, and are now fourth bottom. Ben Sanderson put Esh into the lead on 41 minutes, then Paul Basey got the second on 66 minutes. Stephen Morrison pulled a goal back for Thornaby.

Tow Law won only their third league game of the season when they beat Ryton and Crawcrook 3-2 at Ironworks Road. Ryton led 2-0 at one point with goals by Sam Moore and David Backhouse, but Lawyers hit back well through recent signing Dan Maddison (2) and Simon Ord.

Tow Law manager Steve Murray said; “The win was deserved, we’re delighted.”

Stokesley dropped to third bottom after they were beaten 3-0 at Billingham Town. Joel Callender put Town into the lead with a powerful left foot shot on the end of a three man move, then former Stokesley player Ben Bonner fired the second. Bonner then lobbed the keeper for the third from an Alan Taylor pass.

Stokesley manager Nicky Ward said; “We played really well but couldn’t finish which cost us dear. Two poor goals from setpieces but played well. We’ve got to take our chances better.”

Billingham Town manager Darren Trotter said; “I was very pleased with the attitude of the players. They were very disciplined, kept their emotions together and carried out a very professional performance on a team that didn’t stop working.”

Ryhope CW had a good win, by 3-1 at Darlington RA. They took the lead when Jack Pounder nodded the ball down for Conor Winter to tap in, then after half time Pounder fired the second. Winter broke away and got the third, before the RA pulled a late goal back through Jim Wilson.

Ryhope CW manager Gary Pearson said; “It was a great performance again. After the first ten minutes we quickly realised that we weren’t going to be able to get the ball down so we concentrated on winning a battle which paid off in the end.”

Heaton Stannington beat South Shields 3-0 with goals by Brian Dodsworth, Brian Yates and Ben Telford.

Heaton Stannington assistant manager Geoff Walker said; “We’re absolutely delighted with the performance. The workrate all over the pitch was first class. Not much in the first half but went in 2-0 up. We dominated the second half, we got a third and could easily have scored more. Very pleasing as Shields like ourselves have been on a good run.”

Whickham beat Alnwick 3-2 at the Glebe, Andrew Brown scoring the winner for the home side late in the game.