Durham City manager Brian Honour is delighted with new striker Michael Taylor.

Honour signed Taylor from Chester-le-Street two months ago and has been rewarded with a strike rate of a goal per game from the 36-year-old. Taylor scored twice in Durham's 3-1 win over West Auckland last Saturday, a result which put them five points clear at the top.

"He has done fantastic for us since he came," said Honour. "He's been converting a lot of the chances we've created, and with respect to the players who have been up there since the start of the season, maybe we would have been in a stronger position at the top if we had him earlier.

"He's in excellent form at the moment, and hopefully he can keep it going." Durham, meanwhile, have appealed to Durham FA over the sending off of Gary Pearson at Peterlee a month ago.

Marske United are now turning their attentions to the league after their excellent win in the FA Vase at Barwell last Saturday. Marske won 2-1 to go into the fourth round but they have slipped to eighth in the league in recent weeks.

"We want to get some points on the board now," said manager Charlie Bell. "We're aiming to be in the top six at the turn of the year."

Marske have a fourth round Vase tie to look forward to against either Porthleven or Mildenhall, and Bell said; "The fourth round will be new territory for us, but we're very pleased with our progress.

"We've improved every year since we came into the league. We've done well in the FA Cup and now we want to keep it going in the Vase."

Hebburn's switch of their home game with Whitley Bay to Friday night last week floundered when their match was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch.

Hebburn had a Friday night home game earlier in the season to avoid the England-West Germany game and were rewarded with a good crowd. They were hoping for another good turn-out and they may try to arrange another Friday fixture later in the season.

The league has distributed its fixture list for January, and because of all the recent postponements, some First Division games have been arranged for midweeks during the month.

Two FA Vase third round ties have been rearranged for this Saturday. Bedlington will play Nantwich while Consett take on Heanor in games which were postponed last Saturday, and with the FA's permission, have been re-arranged for this week.

However, the arrangements will not have gone unnoticed at Seaham Red Star.

Their game at Prescot Cables in the second round was postponed just as Seaham were about to set off for Merseyside and Seaham requested that the game should be rearranged for the following Saturday, an idea which met with approval from their opponents and both leagues.

However, the FA intervened, and instructed that the game should be played in the midweek, much to the annoyance of Seaham manager Steve Smith who was without several players because of work commitments.

Seaham lost the rearranged game 5-2, but would argue that they might still be in the competition if the game was played on a Saturday.

Billingham Synthonia have avoided the Team of the Month curse - for at least a week. The two previous winners of the award, Marske United and Durham City, lost the next game after being awarded the honour and Synners were fearing the worst ahead of their game at Peterlee last Saturday.

However, the match, like many others in the region, was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch.

Billingham secretary Graham Craggs said: "When we were informed of the award, we were told it might be good news, or it might be bad news."

Guisborough Town have placed their striker Micky Ward on the transfer list at his own request. Ward was previously at Marske and Billingham Synthonia

Easington have placed midfielder Andrew Allen on the transfer list at his own request.

Only two games were played in midweek, the rest postponed again because of waterlogged pitches. Bedlington bounced back to form with a 2-1 win at Chester-le-Street. They took a two goal half-time lead through John Milner and Willie Moat with Peter Croft pulling a goal back in the second half for Chester.

Seaham Red Star recovered from last Saturday's trouncing by Brandon to beat bottom club Crook Town 3-0. Recent signing Gary McDonald scored all three goals. He got his first before half time from a through ball, and after the interval he tapped in from an angled shot by David Ross. He completed his hat trick from a tight angle after his original shot was blocked. Crook have appointed former Whitley Bay manager David Styles as their new assistant manager to Dennis Pinkney. Styles has brought several players with him to the club, and five of them made their debuts in the game at Seaham on Wednesday night - keeper Anthony Robinson, full back Dale Wood, centre half Alan O'Donnell and forwards Martin Blyth and Philip Hogarth. Jarrow Roofing have signed much-travelled keeper Kevin Wolfe who was playing for Durham at the start of the season. Manager Richie McLoughlin said: "Kevin is a good talker, which is something we're lacking at the moment.