Bishop Auckland's slim hopes of winning the Premier Division were extinguished when they lost 3-1 at leaders Emley on Tuesday night.

Bishops never recovered from a three-goal blast by the home side in the first half hour. Bishops improved in the second half but their only success came from Steve Bell.

Bishops' boss Tony Lee said: "We got off to a very bad start, and mistakes cost us goals. We were in control in the second half and pinned them back, but the damage was done."

Spennymoor lost 2-1 at Gainsborough. They trailed 2-0 at half time with keeper Stuart Dawson making two very good saves to keep Moors in the hunt, and they pulled a goal back in the second half with a long range effort by Craig Veart. Garry Williamson later hit a post.

Manager Peter Mulcaster said: "We weren't at the races in the first half, but we improved a lot in the second."

Gateshead drew 2-2 at Worksop, after leading 2-0 at one stage with two goals from Wayne Edgcumbe.

l The league game between Spennymoor and Bishop Auckland, which was abandoned after just 16 minutes last week because of heavy snow, has been re-arranged for April 3 at the Brewery Field.

Premier Division

P W D L F A Pts

Emley 32 23 6 3 65 29 75

Stalybridge 29 21 7 1 67 20 70

Bishop Auckland 28 17 4 7 55 35 55

Lancaster 29 15 7 7 61 48 52

Altrincham 34 14 8 12 60 47 50

Worksop 27 13 8 6 74 45 47

Accrington 32 13 7 12 50 47 46

Hucknall 28 12 7 8 35 32 43

Gainsborough 32 11 9 12 36 43 42

Barrow 30 11 8 11 49 48 41

Bamber Bridge 30 11 6 13 42 47 39

Whitby 30 11 6 13 44 53 39

Gateshead 27 11 5 11 50 41 38

Runcorn 28 11 5 11 38 45 38

Hyde 28 10 7 11 53 50 37

Burscough 26 10 6 10 42 43 36

Droylsden 30 10 4 16 35 52 34

Marine 30 8 8 14 39 55 32

Leek Town 30 8 7 14 29 41 31

Blyth Spartans 29 8 6 15 34 42 30

Frickley 32 6 10 16 39 66 28

Colwyn Bay 27 6 8 13 38 58 26

*Spennymoor 28 2 3 23 23 72 8

*denotes one point deducted