The League took a breather this week, as all teams competed in the League Cup and all matches were completed with two of them requiring penalties to resolve them.

Saints and Tyne and Wear met for the third time this season. In the end it was Tyne and Wear who comfortably won 4-1 and will entertain Easington in the second round as their reward.

Easington got to round two thanks to a 3-1 win over Sedgefield for whom Neil Baker got a consolation goal. Durham HQ and Durham Fire have had their share of close run battled over the years and their tie this year was no different. The teams shared eight goal after extra time and took penalties to resolve the matter. Tony Insall scored all four goals for HQ and yet still finished on the losing side. Colin Jones grabbed a hat trick for the Fire team, with Richie Morgan getting the other. Twice Insall scored only for the Fire Brigade to equalise within a minute. After so many goals, the penalties were a big disappointment and it was the Fire team who kept their nerve to win 3-1. they face the long trip to Langbaurgh as their reward.

Langbaurgh came through their derby game with Stockton by winning 3-1. All their goals were scored by Matt Lymer with Lee Clarke scoring for Stockton. The match was a very close run thing, with Langbaurgh leading by one goal until the last quarter of an hour, as both teams pushed to get the win. Two second round ties were completed and they too produced close results. No more so than the Darlington Newcastle tie. Bottom placed Darlington took title-chasing Newcastle to penalties in a tense goalless match.

Newcastle then won the match with 20-second penalty as the unfortunate Darlington keeper failed to score and Dave Oakes got to take second penalty to secure the victory.

Frankland have been struggling of late but fielded a full compliment plus subs against Derwentside and took the tie 2-0. After a goalless first half Peter Munro gave Frankland the lead midway through the second half. late goals by Keith Smith and Graeme Earle secured the win.