Billingham Town manager Micky Watson blasted the referee after one of his players was red-carded on Saturday - for having a drink of water.

Town beat fancied Durham 2-1, but they finished the game with ten men after John McKie was shown his second yellow card for leaving the field for a drink of water at the dugout without the referee's permission.

"The referee told me that he had to do it, because he'd left the field while the ball was in play," said Watson. "Another player left the field later for a drink, but the ref said he did nothing because the ball wasn't in play.

"I thought the referee should have applied a bit of common sense, especially on a hot day. It shouldn't have happened, and I was disappointed with the reaction of their dugout.

"But I was very pleased with the way we played, when we had both ten and 11 men."

Town took the lead after 25 minutes when Jamie Clarke scored from a Chris Smith pass, and he made it 2-0 early in the second half after Chris Emms and David Yale combined.

After McKie's dismissal, City pulled one back with a Garry Barnes effort from a Dion Raitt pass, but couldn't force another.

Norton keeper Simon Clarke had mixed feelings after his side's Second Division draw at Crook. Clarke opened the scoring after two minutes with a long clearance that sailed into the Crook net, but then he let in three as Crook came back from 3-0 down to draw 3-3. His manager Ray Morton said: "There was quite a wind behind Simon's clearance. It only bounced three times as it went into the net."

Norton were 3-0 up by the 25th minute with Steve Roberts and John Outhwaite scoring the other goals, but Crook pulled two back before half-time through Jonathan Milroy and Sam Vernalls. Milroy got another midway through the second half.

Kennek Ryhope CA manager Tony Metcalf is the first managerial casualty of the season after his side went down 7-1 at Washington in the second division.

Ryhope were 4-0 down at half-time, and Metcalf decided to hand in his resignation at the final whistle.

Ryhope secretary Owen Haley said: "Fair play to Tony, he felt that it wasn't going to happen."

Gary Messer (2), Dave Mawson, Steve Burns, Carl Magnay, Tony Healer and Ben Gawthorpe scored for Washington, with Michael Coghlan replying.

Thornaby stopped Dunston's early charge by drawing 0-0 at Federation Park.

Dunston had virtually all of the chances in the game. Thornaby keeper Adrian Swan pulled off good saves from Graeme Armstrong and Ben Thompson, while Armstrong had a goal disallowed.

Thompson hit the post in the second half, while Thornaby nearly won it in stoppage time, but Neil Campbell fired wide.

Whitley Bay lost their third successive game when they were beaten 1-0 at home by Nissan Sunderland.

Lee Kerr had an effort cleared off the line before Nissan took the lead early in the second half, former Hartlepool player Jon Cullen scoring direct fom a 25 yard free-kick.

Whitley gave a debut to former Newcastle, Darlington and Hartlepool striker Paul Robinson.

Seaham Red Star are now top of the Second Division table after they beat Whickham 1-0, Dino Carter scoring for them ten minutes from the end.

Spennymoor are still unbeaten, but only just, after they drew 1-1 at Northallerton in a game of two own goals.

Northallerton took the lead when Spennymoor defender John Guy sliced a clearance into his own net, but Moors equalised when a long throw from Martin Houlahan was needlessly turned over his own line by Ian Williams.

South Shields are now bottom after they lost 4-2 at home to Peterlee, who celebrated their first win of the season. Dean Hellens (26) cancelled out Craig Jones 21st minute goal for Peterlee, but then Peterlee scored three times through Steve Winspear (32), Michael Meek (51) and Jones (65) before Paul Diamond replied.

Darlington RA lost their second game when they lost 4-1 at Penrith. Barry Irving (2), Mike Reed and Martin Strong scored for Penrith, with new signing Chris Creamer replying for the RA late in the game.

Alnwick won 2-1 at Marske. Ian Common gave Alnwick the lead, then James Jeffrey ran half the length of the pitch to score the second just before half-time. Greg Booth pulled a goal back for Marske.