The Albany Northern League

Thompson scored all four, as the underdogs beat Peterlee and reached the last 64 of the FA Vase, where they will now play Arnold Town.

"We signed Andrew from Annfield Plain during the summer, and he's done really well this season.

"He took all four of his goals really well on Saturday. He made up ground quickly, and showed some good touches.

"He's still got a bit to learn, but we can't complain if he scores goals like he did on Saturday."

Tow Law manager Graeme Forster admits that he knows nothing about FA Vase opponents Bromsgrove.

Lawyers, who beat Congleton 5-0 last Saturday, have been paired with the former Conference side, currently second in the Midland Alliance.

"I don't know a thing about them," said Forster. "The good thing is, that we're at home and that's all we can ask for. I didn't want to play another Northern League team."

All the Northern League clubs concerned were hoping that they weren't drawn against Bedlington, and they got their wish.

Bedlington were drawn at home to Bridgnorth, from the Midland Alliance.

Durham City have the longest trip of all the Northern League clubs. They face a trek to Northamptonshire to play Raunds Town of the United Counties League and may stay overnight before the game.

Consett have a journey into the unknown into Derbyshire to play Arnold Town from the Northern Counties East League. Arnold are fourth in their league and have games in hand on all the teams above them.

Billingham Synthonia are also on their travels to St Helens, who lost to Brandon in the FA Cup earlier in the season. St Helens are currently top of the North West Counties League.

West Auckland will fancy their chances against Nantwich, who just managed to beat Esh Winning after being 3-2 behind with just ten minutes left.

The tie of the round as far as the North-East is concerned will be the game between Billingham Town and Whitley Bay, who disposed of Guisborough 2-0 in their midweek replay.

The Northern League has arranged its Craven Cup ties for next week.

Tuesday: Alnwick v Willington, Easington v Crook, South Shields v Northallerton

Crook will be hoping for better fortunes at Easington - only last Saturday they were losing 4-1 with just a few minutes left when the floodlights failed.

Wednesday: Hebburn v Prudhoe, Norton v Penrith, Shildon v Kennek Ryhope CA, Washington Nissan v Horden, Whickham v Murton

The League has also announced the dates for the last sixteen of the League Cup

Tuesday, November 27: Ashington v Norton, Durham City v Hebburn, Whitley Bay v Billingham Town Wednesday, November 28: Consett v Peterlee, Dunston v Brandon, Jarrow Roofing v Prudhoe, Shildon v South Shields, Whickham v Tow Law

Billingham Town have been hit by the news that recent signing David Gallagher could be ruled out for a few weeks.

Gallagher was signed from Bishop Auckland a fortnight ago, but limped off on his home debut against Whitley Bay. "He'd done very well for us," said manager Alan Robinson. "But we're worried now that he might miss the next round of the Vase.''

Tow Law's penalty problems could soon resurface.

Lawyers missed seven spot kicks in a row, until Lee Innes took on the job, and even though he missed his first attempt, converted his next one to end their embarrassment.

But now he's left the club to play cricket in New Zealand. "We're back to square one," said manager Graeme Forster. "He had a 50 per cent strike rate - which was better than all of the others!"

Forster hasn't yet decided who to approach to be the next penalty taker, but he'll be crossing his fingers and hoping that for the time being, Tow Law aren't awarded any penalties.

Thornaby assistant manager Micky Watson isn't expecting a relegation struggle this season.

Thornaby have bounced back well after being relegated from the First Division two seasons ago and they go into this Saturday's game against Dunston in midtable.

"We have a better squad this time round," said Watson. "The players we have are more experienced, and know what the First Division is about. I don't think we'll be struggling near the bottom end of the table this season, we'll probably be in mid table.

"We've had some good results this season, and we can only go on improving."

Shildon manager Ray Gowan was delighted with Saturday's 4-1 victory over South Shields.

Shildon have stuttered in recent weeks after winning their first nine games and they lost ground when they lost to Penrith and Northallerton, as well as going out of two cup competitions.

"We needed to have a decent performance against one of the better teams in the league," he said.

"We'd lost a couple of games, and the win on Saturday has done us the world of good, especially as they'd beaten us in the Durham Challenge Cup."

Gowan, however, was less than complimentary about his team on Tuesday night, when they scored twice in the last five minutes to beat Murton 2-1. "We were the luckiest team alive," he said.

Gowan hasn't received any enquiries yet for striker Gary McDonald, who asked to go on the transfer list at his own request a fortnight ago.

Chester-le-Street's Albany Durham Challenge cup tie with Evenwood last Tuesday night was postponed because of the continuing floodlight problems at Chester-le-Street.

No game has yet been fixed for the re-arranged game, although next Tuesday has been pencilled in.

Chester officials were puzzled by the sudden failure last Saturday against Brandon in the League, as the system is almost brand new. Whitley Bay are the only club from the Northern League to indicate that they would like to take promotion to the UniBond League at the end of the season.

Clubs have to inform their leagues of their intentions by the end of October, and Whitley - relegated from the UniBond League two seasons ago - are the only club willing to take the step upwards.

The situation is sure to add fuel to the debate about the prohibitive costs for Northern League clubs should they wish to join the uniBond League.

On the other hand, there are nine applications from the North West Counties League, and six from the Northern Counties East League