West Auckland Queens Head lost their league unbeaten record despite taking the lead at Rugby Club through Andrew Bowes.

By half time it was 1-1 and Rugby Club went on to record an excellent 4-1 victory with goals from Mark Foster (2), John Lowe and Michael Barker.

Leaders Willington WMC overcame Roddymoor 7-0 for their fourth consecutive win. Malcolm McWilliams grabbed a hat trick and the rest came from Ian Woodhall, Peter Franks (pen), Anthony Stewart and John Nicholson. Despite conceding seven Michael Sanderson was best for Roddymoor in goal.

Cracking goals from John Wheatley and Kelly Goodfellow saw Wearhead United lead rivals Stanhope Town 2-0 at half time. Will Noble and Mark Evans earned Stanhope a share of the spoils with second half goals in a good game.

John Simpson banged in two penalties during Howden Australian's 4-1 win at Evenwood White Swan. Kevin Burke and Craig Pigg were the other Australian scorers. Their goals came after John Sumpton had given White Swan a half time lead.

Tow Law Cattle Mart entertained Crook Wanderers in the Auckland Charity Cup and went down 4-2. Colin and Stephen Boughey netted for Tow Law whilst Wanderers replied through Paul Bailes (2), Stuart Dawson and Dean Conby.

County CIU Cup

Preliminary round results: Sunderland Redhouse beat Shotton Comrades; Consett Station lost to Quarrington Hill; Ryton beat Coxhoe; Fishburn beat Lanchester; South Durham Malleable lost to Chilton & Windlestone; Ellison lost to Elmfield. Still to play - Coundon v Winlaton New West End; Newton Aycliffe v Grange Villa; Durham City v Cockton Hill; Easington Colliery v Holmeside Hall. There were byes for Blackhill, Glendale, Hardwick, Stockton Blytholme, Tindale Crescent and Willington.

Darlington Church and Friendly League

Oagain the weather accounted for two of the league fixtures. Darlington AFC Greyhound gave a much improved performance even though they went down 4-0 to Hurworth Otter & Fish whose first goal came after 35 minutes, a penalty converted by Andy West. Neil Bell grabbed the second two minutes before the break, the second half was similar to the first with Greyhound unable to put away chances where as Otter took their chances to add to their score through James Edwards and Wayne King.

It was Skerne Park's turn to struggle to field a full side this week and paid for it against high flying Shildon Elm Road WMC who won with ease, 14-1. It must be said the youngsters who turned out for Skerne Park never stooped trying, top scorer was Richard Nash with five (all poached from two yards), Carl Dawson hit four with a brace going to Craig Dawson and Thomas Louden, Ian Wickens rounded off their scoring, Martin Scott scored for ten men Skerne Park.

Darlington The Mowden dominated the first half against Bishopton Hoppers Transport and led 4-0. Hoppers put up a better showing in the second restricting Mowden to just one further goal, Ritchie Dodsworth hit a pair with one apiece for Callum Reilly, Steve Thompson and Jamie Applegarth.

Darlington Travellers Rest scored twice in three minutes just before the break the first from the penalty spot against Darlington GSOB who hit back in the second half to take all the points with goals from Russell Nattrass, Stuart Alderson and Mally Leafe.

In the re-arranged Durham Minor Cup tie Darlington RA Youth had an excellent 6-2 victory over Hartlepool Blacksmiths Stranton who, in the previous round, knocked out the League's Newton Aycliffe Navy Club. The goals came from Dean Lawson (2), James Parkinson with a great 30 yarder, Darren Kokes, Craig Adamson and a very rare one from Steve Gamble.

Longhorn Hardware Darlington and

District League

Top spot in the league appears to carry with it the kiss of death as the joint leaders Killinghall Arms and Archdeacon both lost at the weekend.

Albion 5 v 2 Shuttle and Loom

Shuttle and Loom struck first in this entertaining encounter, but Adrian Weston levelled and Kevin Baines put Albion ahead. Jonathan Robson and Rodney Brown's second half strikes put Albion in a commanding position, but Shuttle did manage to pull one back before Gary Mitchell completed the scoring.

East End WMC 5 v 3 Killinghall Arms

Killie started strongly and took an early lead through Michael Turner, Andrew Roberts added a second, but the lead was halved when East End cashed in on some sloppy defending. Roberts then proceeded to miss three glorious opportunities to put the points out of East End's reach before the same player added to his tally to put Killie 3-1 up.

Robert spurned several more chances and with his fellow defenders failing to clear their lines East End crowned a remarkable comeback to score four times without reply to take the points. Scorers for East End were Mark Maddison (2), Kevin Wake, John Woodford and Rob Hardy.

Grey Horse 4 v 4 DGSOB

An even first half saw the teams turn round level at 1-1. However, Grey Horse dominated the first 35 minutes of the second half to open up a 4-2 lead.

Old Boys refused to throw in the towel and super sub Peter Gray barged in two late goals to level matters with five minutes remaining. Old Boys almost snatched victory in the closing minutes but Mark Sowerby failed to add to his earlier strike when he blazed wide. Paul Rogers was Old Boys' other scorer.

Hole in the Wall 3 v 2 Archdeacon

The Deacon took the lead after only three minutes when a bad ball out of defence was returned with interest. The next 30 minutes saw both sides produce some excellent football which culminated in Mark Thompson springing the offside trap to round the keeper and equalise for Wall. An excellent move down the right resulted in a cross into the box which was duly despatched to restore Archdeacon's lead on the stroke of half-time.

The second half was again a nip and tuck affair and with only 15 minutes remaining Andrew Mackintosh converted a penalty to again level the scores.

Five minutes from time David Abdale's long ball out of defence was met on the volley by Mark Thompson to put Wall ahead for the first time. Archdeacon went all out for an equaliser, but were kept at bay by the Wall defence and their man of the match keeper Graham Weir.

Durham Alliance

Cockfield beat Belford House 1-0 in a close encounter in the Durham County Trophy. The game looked like a stalemate until the 88th minute when Matthew Dixon headed the only goal.

Brandon Station won 3-0 away to Billingham SMC in the competition - with goals by Paul Webster (2) and Gavin Bell.

Spennymoor Black & Decker won 3-2 away to Wolviston Reserves. They were 2-0 down in the first half and losing by the same result with only eight minutes to go. Black & Decker looked out until Alan Robson made it 2-1 in the 82nd minute and another goal by Moris Hilton a minute later had them level in 90 minutes. Three minutes into extra time Michael Hudson settled it for Black & Decker - scoring the golden goal.