Durham City Reserves had a convincing 5-1 win away to Seaham Mallard.

This keeps them joint top with Coxhoe Athletic. Durham went in front when Dean Wardle bundled in the goal from close range. The Mallard drew level two minutes later, John Hunt was fouled in the penalty area and Garron Morton, the Mallard's keeper, scored against his opposite number. He has now scored five goals for the Mallard, all penalties. Gareth Greener made it 2-1 to Durham with a swerving shot into the top of the net before Lee Butler headed in from Barry Cook's corner kick. Butler made it 4-1 in 50 minutes and Scott Hembrough 5-1 with a nice solo run through Mallard's defence before slipping the ball past the keeper.

Although on the losing side, Alan Turnbull the secretary of Mallard gave stand-in referee Jimmy Taylor from Durham a glowing report for the way he refereed.

Ebchester's performance against Shildon Railway improved dramatically from the previous encounter the week before when the Railway hammered them 10-0 in the Durham County Trophy. The Railway were restricted to a 2-0 win being short of players for the league game. Neil Robinson, Shildon's top scorer filled one of the spots in goal to give a good performance in his new position. After five minutes Kevin Bramley making his debut scored with a 25-yard volley, this his first kick of the ball. Ebchester never gave in and played some good football and always in with a chance of salvaging something out of the match, but David Hanson sealed it for the Railway, scoring the second with after seeing a couple of efforts rebounding off defenders.

Coxhoe Athletic beat Whitehill FC 4-0 at home to keep them top of the league with a better goal difference than Durham City Reserves. Scoring 46 goals with only three against makes Coxhoe a very hard team to break down. They have only conceded one goal from open play this season, the other two were penalties.

Belford House made progress to the next round of the Sacriston Aged Miners Cup when they beat Hartlepool Town 2-0. Stewart Burton scored in 5 minutes from the penalty spot after Mark Green was bundled over in the penalty area. Martin Deacon got the second in 75 minutes, he slipped past two defenders before beating the keeper from 15yards.

Seaham Town are also in the next round due to a 7-1 win away to Durham Victoria Bridge. The Town's marksmen were Ian Bell, Dean Anderson, Paul Pinder and two each for Scott Burns and John Dobinson. Nicky Barker replied for the Vic.

Saturday's results: League: Brandon Prince Bishop 3 Gateshead A 5, Coxhoe Athletic 4 Whitehill FC 0, Ebchester FC 0 Shildon Railway FC 2, Seaham Mallard 1 Durham City Afc Res. 5, Simonside SC 3 Durham University FC 2.

Sacriston Aged Miners Trophy: Durham Victoria Bridge 1 Seaham Town CFC 7, Hartlepool FC 0 Belford House FC 2.