Bishop Auckland midfielder David Bayles believes that Bishops will give Burton Albion a tough game in the third round of the FA Umbro Trophy tomorrow.

Nigel Clough's side strengthened their position at the top of the Doc Martens League by winning 4-0 at Fisher in midweek, but Bayles isn't afraid of the challenge.

"We're going well, just like they are," he said. "We've been unbeaten in the league for a long time, and we've been playing some very good football.

"We're taking more of our chances this season. Last season we would need ten chances before we would score, but this season, we expect to get at least three goals from the same number of opportunities."

Bishops have had some good runs in the Trophy in recent years, and Bayles added: "We seem to raise our game for the Trophy, as we've shown by our results in recent years. Make no mistake, the lads will be up for the game.

"We're not afraid of going to Burton. We know where their dangers are, and we know what their weaknesses are.

"We had them watched on Saturday, and we've been told that they're not too dissimilar to us."

Gateshead are looking for a new manager following the sacking of Mattie Pearson. It all came to a head for Pearson after last Saturday's 2-0 home defeat by Bamber Bridge, to leave the Tynesiders entrenched in the bottom half of the table.

But there were some harsh parting words from Pearson.

"I've had to off-load players like Paul Thompson and Tony Hall for financial reasons and top scorer Wayne Edgcumbe for a breach of club discipline," he said "Those decisions were the Board's, not mine.

"Recently, behind the scenes, it's not been good enough and the club should have had the decency to let the players and fans know what's been going on.

"Instead, I've been left to carry the can because the club has over-budgeted on wages - and on Saturday we only had 13 fit players. ."

But chairman John Gibson retorted: "We produce a financial budget for players and that budget is run by the manager who has overspent. We as a board don't interfere on the playing side.

"For Matt to apparently claim the rot set in only after our 5-0 defeat in the second round of the FA Cup at Swindon is hiding the truth.

"Our season was killed long before we reached the halfway stage."

In the League Cup, Whitby Town drew 1-1 with Gateshead in midweek. David Goodchild scored for Whitby after just two minutes, with Kenny Cramman equalising on the hour.