Bishop Auckland manager Brian Honour was livid after his side were denied victory against third-placed Lincoln United at Dean Street on Saturday.

Bishops, who are still just inside the automatic promotion places, had to be content with their sixth draw in their last eight games after the referee failed to award them a penalty for handball late in the game.

A through-ball from Nicky Scaife towards Chris Moore appeared to be intercepted by a defender with the use of his hand, and Honour said: "The referee told me he didn't see it, and when he looked towards his linesman, he got no assistance from him.

"They must have been the only two people in the ground who didn't see it, judging by the crowd's reaction.

"Even though we drew, results went in our favour. The players did very well, and I couldn't fault them against a team which is pushing for the title. We've got a big home game coming up now on Wednesday against Witton Albion."

David Bayles and Sean Hope both went close for Bishops and they took the lead after 79 minutes when Scaife blasted in a free kick.

But Lincoln levelled when Ian Wilkins lobbed John Caffry from the edge of the box.

Spennymoor also had cause to complain about a penalty in their 1-1 away draw at Alfreton, a result which ended a run of six straight defeats.

Moors were within two minutes of victory when Alfreton equalised, but manager Tony Lee said: "We had enough chances to win, but we were annoyed we weren't given a penalty when we were leading 1-0.

"We broke away and when Andy Brown tried to find Tommy Raw, their defender handled in the area."

Moors produced their best performance for a long time, and took the lead after 61 minutes when Raw scored from a right wing cross, but Alfreton levelled when David Holmes fired home.

Moors are now back in the play offs, in 19th place.

Blyth are still in the Premier Division bottom two after they lost 1-0 at Runcorn, but Whitby had an excellent 0-0 draw at title chasing Barrow.

In the first division, Gateshead won 2-1 at North Ferriby with goals in the last seven minutes from Anthony Shandran and Paul Thompson.