In the battle of the two unbeaten teams, Deepdale found themselves on the wrong end of a 6-1 pasting by The Royal.

This was a performance, described by Mike Swales, the secretary of The Royal, as the best from his side for a long, long time and one of real class and commitment throughout.

The Royal scorers were Paul Cleary (2), Simon Hares (2), Wayne Muldowney and Shaun Campbell.

Central Borough got back to winning ways with a convincing 4-0 win over The Greyhound. After his harsh words of last week The Boro boss, Nigel Feeney, was a much happier man with this performance. The winners' goals were scored by Mark Atkinson, Michael Blewitt, Steve Woodburn and yet another from veteran Steve Barr.

A very close and entertaining game took place between Hydro and The Mowden which ended 2-1 in favour of Hydro. This was a fast and furious encounter thoroughly enjoyed by all and finally decided by a cracking 30 yarder scored by Hydro's Mark Dixon. The other Hydro was scored by Trevor Cooke with Ritchie Dodsworth notching for The Mowden.

Aycliffe Saints got back to winning ways with a thumping 7-0 win over DGSOB. This game was over a spectacle by half time as the lads from Aycliffe played some great stuff and tore into The Grammar School right from the off. The Saints goals were scored by Mick Cave (4), Gary Hancock, Mickey Bell and Dave Cave.

RA Youth completed the double over SCA with a comfortable 4-1 win.

Stuart Ord, the SCA manager, said: "They had far too much pace for us and were deserved winners."

The youngsters' goals were scored by Darren Kokes, with a hat-trick, and Dean Lawson.

A very tight game took place between Elm Road WMC and The Navy Club which ended in a 1-1 draw. This game could have gone either way and a draw was a fair result with neither deserving to lose the game. The Navy Club's goal was scored by Marc Green.

Two outstanding First Round League Cup matches were played and these resulted in progress to the next round for Wheatsheaf Wanderers who defeated The Tap and Spile 13-1. Wheatsheaf's goals were scored by Neil Snowden (4), Steve Ryder (a second half substitute who scored a classy hat trick), Andrew Russell (2), Gary Worlan (2), Dave Allen and Carl Allen.

The second game was a totally different kettle of fish as this result was in doubt right up until the last minute when a second goal from Simon Middlemiss gave The Otter and Fish a 3-1 win over a very good Shildon Three Tuns. The Tuns had dominated the first half right from the first minute when they took the lead with a stunning header from Mark Tatham but, somehow, found themselves trailing 2-1 at the interval. The second half saw a complete change around as The Otter dominated for long spells but just could not score until "Middy" popped up near the death. The other Otter goal was scored by the outstanding Chris Bellwood.

P W D L Pts GD

The Royal 13 11 2 0 35 +41

The Otter and Fish 11 8 2 1 26 +23

Navy Club 15 7 5 4 26 +21

Shildon Three Tuns 12 8 1 3 25 +17

Deepdale 10 7 2 1 23 +38

RA Youth 13 7 1 5 22 +16

Aycliffe Saints 13 6 1 6 19 +17

SCA 13 5 1 7 16 -8

Elm Road WMC 11 4 3 4 15 +9

The Mowden 10 4 2 4 14 +12

Wheatsheaf 13 4 2 7 14 +8

Hydro 10 5 1 4 14 +4

Central Borough 13 3 4 6 13 -34

DGSOB 14 3 1 10 10 -29

The Greyhound 14 3 0 11 9 -60

*The Tap and Spile 11 0 0 11 -3 -67

*Denotes three points deducted