Durham defender Craig Lake surprised both himself and his manager Brian Honour by scoring a hat trick in their 6-2 win at Seaham Red Star on Monday night.

Lake was pushed into a four man midfield, and scored three times to virtually double his career total.

"He's only scored one goal all season, against West Auckland last year. I used a 3-4-3 formation at Seaham, and that allowed him to get forward a bit more," said Honour.

"All of his goals were similar. He came in at the back post to meet a cross from the left.

"I think we were both surprised he scored a hat trick - he was with me for five years at Hartlepool, and he never scored at all." Lee Ludlow, meanwhile, scored twice to take his tally for the season to 44.

Consett manager Colin Carr admits that his side is facing a relegation fight again.

After going unbeaten for over three months to lift themselves away from the bottom of the table, Consett have suddenly hit a losing streak to drop them back into the relegation contenders, and they have lost games to other clubs in trouble, such as Washington and Jarrow Roofing.

"We haven't been performing at all well recently," said Carr. "We've given ourselves a few worries which we shouldn't have done."

And Carr's mood won't have been helped on Tuesday night when his side lost 2-1 at Newcastle Blue Star, despite scoring one of the fastest goals of the season in the league.

Tony Halliday put them into the lead after just 16 seconds, but Paul Telfer equalised after 59 minutes, and Warren Fisher headed the winner after 74 minutes.

Jarrow Roofing manager Richie McLoughlin says that new coach Colin Richardson has greatly helped his side's successful fight against relegation.

Richardson, who has managed several north east clubs, was appointed coach a few weeks ago until he found another job in local non-league football, and McLoughlin said: "Colin has certainly helped a great deal in recent weeks with the knowledge and background he has in local football.

"The youngsters are more confident now during matches. There have been times earlier in the season when they would have panicked if the opposition scored, but now they keep their nerve."

Tow Law boss Graeme Forster thinks that centre half Graham Liddle has the ability to play at a higher level. Liddle started his football career at Darlington, but since he was released played for both Spennymoor and Whitby before joining Lawyers last month.

"I think Graham is starting to show signs of coming back to form.

"He's put in some very good displays for us since he arrived, and he certainly hasn't let the team down."

Forster certainly had no complaints about Liddle or the rest of the team after they thrashed Thornaby 9-2 on Tuesday night at Ironworks Road.

Striker Andy McKenna achieved a rare feat, scoring a hat trick of penalties, while Kraig Wilkinson also helped himself to a hat trick.

Surprisingly, Lawyers led by just a single goal at half time - a McKenna penalty - before the floodgates opened after the interval. Andy Hurst and Phil Jones score the other goals, with an own goal completing the rout.

Thornaby could be almost relegated this weekend if Guisborough win at Ashington.

Washington Nissan manager Gavin Liddle might just play goalkeeper Stephen Watson at centre forward again. Watson had to play as an emergency striker in last Saturday's game at Willington, and he came up trumps with one of the goals in the 8-3 win.

"We only had twelve fit players, two of them goalkeepers," said Liddle. "Stephen started the game in goal, but then Paul Robertson picked up an injury. So I put my other keeper, Frank Johnson, in goal, and moved Stephen up front.

"He didn't too bad - he scored one goal, and nearly got another. If the injuries don't clear up, I might have to play him up front again."

Adam Johnson and Gavin Cogdon were both on target in the game, bringing their respective tallies to 31 and 29 for the season. "When you consider that they've both missed a few games because of injury, then it's not bad going at all," said Liddle.

Tow Law's chances of finishing second in the table have improved considerably after Dunston lost 3-0 at home to FA Vase finalists Whitley Bay.

Gary Cooke (2) and Chris Neil scored the goals for Whitley, who are working their way through a three games per week schedule at the moment.

Morpeth are still in the bottom three after they could only draw an entertaining game 0-0 at Jarrow Roofing, but they could have snatched all three points if Paul Beavers hadn't missed a good chance late in the game.

In the second division, Shildon moved into second place on Tuesday night when they won 1-0 at Evenwood, Mark Rutter scoring from a John Outhwaite assist twelve minutes from the end.

But the following night Penrith came from behind to win 2-1 at Kennek Ryhope CA. Gareth Hill put Ryhope in the lead on the hour, but within a minute Willie Paul equalised and after 74 minutes Gavin Manchester scored the winner.

Prudhoe, who are also in the promotion race, dropped two points when they could only draw 1-1 with Horden. Washington Nissan won 3-0 at Eppleton on Wednesday night, Paul Conlon scoring all three.