Bishop Auckland moved out of the bottom three with a much needed but deserved 2-1 win over Altrincham on Wednesday.

The win was no fluke, as Bishops showed plenty of determination to win their first league game under Alan Shoulder, and their first in the league since early November when they beat Emley.

Andy Shaw headed them in front from a Paul Proudlock free kick, then Brian Rowe burst through to fire the second. Altrincham looked more dangerous in the second half, but Bishops almost added to their score when Kevin Shoulder's shot was cleared off the line.Carl Furlong pulled a goal back for Altrincham on the hour, but the Bishops defence held firm in the last half hour.

Bishops are now fourth off bottom, ahead of Whitby on goal difference.

The sudden snowfall caused chaos with games in the UniBond League last Saturday.

Snow over the North Yorkshire Moors and the Pennines forced games to be postponed, but the referee for the Whitby game ordered that it should still go ahead - even though Whitby only had the bare 11 at one point. While the visitors to the Turnbull Ground, Burton Albion, managed to miss the worst of the snow, three of Whitby's team couldn't make the trip over the moor road from Guisborough.

Whitby suggested a postponement to the referee, who flatly refused and gave Whitby until 3.30pm to muster a team.

To make matters worse,Whitby lost striker Lee Ure after just 15 minutes because of injury, but they held on for a 1-1 draw against the league leaders, who only equalised in stoppage time.

Unfortunately on Sunday, Charlie was rushed to hospital after a slight stroke. Everyone in north east non league football wishes him a speedy recovery.

Meanwhile, the Kingsway pitch was playable for Bishop Auckland's home game with Vauxhall Motors, but the game had to be postponed because of snow 40 miles away.

The Vauxhall Motors team bus was held up by snow just outside Kirkby Stephen, and at 1.30pm they phoned ahead to say that they would be unable to get through, so the match had to be postponed.

No new date has yet been fixed for the Bishop Auckland game.

Former Bishop striker Dave Laws, who left Kingsway for Weymouth six years ago, has joined Newport following a cash crisis at the Dorset club.

Spennymoor are now just two points from a play off place after they beat Stocksbridge 2-1 at the Brewery Field on Tuesday night.

Moors have now gone ten league games without defeat, but they were hanging on in the second half against Stocksbridge, who battled back well from two goals down. Chris Lynch scored with two headers in the first half, and if Moors' finishing had been better in the first period, they wouldn't have had many concerns after half time.

Whitby will have three games next week as they catch up on their outstanding fixtures. They are at Emley on Monday night, at home to Blyth on Wednesday, and then they travel to Burton Albion next Saturday.