Stokesley SC and Birtley Town are neck and neck at the top of the table but whereas the former won at a canter against Whitehaven, Birtley had to pull out all the stops against a strong challenge from Darlington RA.

They went ahead at Brinkburn Road in the 26th minute when Michael Ford found the net but when Martin Brown levelled ten minutes into the second half, he set up an enthralling final 35 minutes. Just when it appeared that the game would end in stalemate, McManus clinched the crucial winning goal for Birtley.

Stokesley SC blitzed five goals in a frenetic 22 minutes at Whitehaven. There was no hint at the end of a goal-less first period of the goals avalanche to follow but once Adam Bramley broke the deadlock after 56 minutes, the floodgates opened. He added a second and it was all over for the Cumbrians as David Grainge also bagged a brace and Tony Sivills completed the rout.

New Marske maintained their challenge for the title defeating Barnard Castle Glaxo 4-0. James Kesterton gave them an early lead before Stephen Larkin added a second on 35 minutes. Larkin was again on target after an hour and New Marske cruised home with a late strike from Gary Bickerstaff.

Ryhope CW maintained their recent good form finishing ahead of Windscale with goals from Stephen Rochester and a brilliant diving header by Kevin Benison and goals were also at a premium at Harton and Westoe who defeated second-bottom Washington Nissan UK with a 79th-minute strike from Gary Stephenson.

After conceding three goals to Ben Ryan (2) and John Fucher, Jarrow failed to recover and finished 4-1 losers at Gateshead Reserves. Substitute Andy Smith did pull a goal back but Ben Abusi made sure for the Tynesiders.

North Shields will replay their Northumberland Senior Cup tie at Ponteland United on Saturday. They were two goals up through Eddie Miller and John McCabe before Ponteland levelled with two goals in the last couple of minutes by Jared Suddick and Anthony Robson (og).