The match at Birtley Town against Thornaby-on-Tees was abandoned seven minutes from time remaining when Guy Bone was taken to hospital with a broken leg. He was detained overnight in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead.

Birtley led 5-2 at the time., courtesy of strikes by Carl Pennington (2), Stephen Simpson, Gareth Davison and Anthony Davies who also failed with a

penalty. Colin Holmes and Charles Eales netted for Thornaby.

The league had a bad day in the Durham Challenge Cup and only Nissan will fly

the flag in the second round.

Stanley United suffered a 4-0 reverse at the hands of Dunston Fed who were three goals up by the interval. Andy Fletcher (2), Paul Hogg and Gary Forbes found the net against weakened Stanley whose manager Vince Kirkup was forced

to play his first game of the season.

Tow Law saw off Annfield Plain when Nigel Bolton bagged a brace and Andrew McKenna also scored. Chris Nevin hit Plain's only goal. Boldon CA lost 5-1 to Shotton Comrades whose marksmen were Roy Allen (2), Lee Kitching (2) and Wayne Sullivan. Steve Wilkinson had thrown Boldon a lifeline

making the score 1-2 before Shotton's late winning surge.

Wolviston missed the chance of going level with leaders Nissan despite extending their unbeaten sequence to 14 matches with a draw at Whitehaven. The Cleveland side made the worst possible start when Craig Robson gave Whitehaven a first-minute lead but gradually Wolviston fought their way back into the game and a brace of goals by Brian Wake turned the tide. Two points slipped away,

however, with Carl McGrady claiming the Cumbrians' equaliser.

North Shields overtook Wolviston and are now just a point adrift of Nissan with a game in hand.

They anticipated a stern test at home to Ferryhill Athletic but ran out 4-1 winners. David Little headed in before David Burt saw off a couple of

challenges to make it two by the interval.

Within five minutes of resuming, Ferryhill were three down when Neil Hartley converted and although Ian Wlodorczak reduced the visitors' arrears from the penalty spot, Ian McElroe was on target with a fourth goal for the Robins.

Simonside, who recently changed their manager, crashed 12-0 rout against Windscale who were eight goals up inside the first 45 minutes. Paul

Barwise and Peter O'Donnell both claimed hattricks and Howard Kirkbride, Stephen

Rogers and Vince Jackson all scored twice.

In contrast, one goal on the hour by Lee Oxley was sufficient for New Marske at Stokesley.

Jarrow moved off the bottom and Whitburn are now at the basement following their clash. Jarrow finished 4-1 ahead with strikes by Vincent McIntosh, Dean Whiting, Mark Lally and Andrew Riley. Gavin Burns hit a consolation goal for Whitburn.

Ryhope CW eased their position near the foote, defeating Cleadon SC 5-1. Peter Robinson gave them the advantage and Kevin Westall levelled. Robinson scored his second and late goals by Peter Benson and William Crew, who

scored twice in the last four minutes, earned Ryhope their fourth win of the season.

A hat-trick by Johnny Kirk was the feature of Redcar Town's 4-2 victory at home

to Harton and Westoe. Steve Cochrane was the Seasiders' other marksman with

Michael Meek and Paul Knight responding.

French Le Championnat: Strasbourg 1 Marseille 1

French Deuxieme Division: AC Ajaccio 0 Niort 1, Angers 1 Beauvais 1, Cannes 2 Nice 1, Chateauroux 2 Wasquehal 0, Le Mans 1 Nimes 1, Lorient 2 AS Nancy 0, Martigues 2 Caen 2, Sochaux 3 Creteil 0

German Bundesliga: Borussia Dortmund 1 Kaiserslautern 2, Eintracht Frankfurt 3 SC Freiburg 0, Hansa Rostock 1 Wolfsburg 1, Schalke 0 Bayer Leverkusen 0, Unterhaching 2 Hamburg 1, Werder Bremen 1 Bayern Munich 1, Alemania Aachen 0 Osnabruck 0, Mainz 0 Ulm 3

Spanish Primera Liga: Las Palmas Racing Santander Late, Mallorca 2 Barcelona 0, Numancia 1 D Coruna 2, Villarreal 0 Athletic Bilbao 0, Real Zaragoza 1 Malaga 1

Spanish Segunda Division: Badajoz 2 Universidad 1, Compostela 2 Eibar 1, Huelva 0 Salamanca 0, Levante 2 Seville 0, R Ferrol 1 Tenerife 2

Dutch KPN-Telecompetitie: Heerenveen 1 De Graafschap