Shildon fired a warning to their FA Vase opponents by beating Whitley Bay 3-1 in one of a handful of non league games to escape the bad weather on Saturday.

Both Shildon and Whitley are in action in the last 16 of the FA Vase this Saturday, and Shildon will head to their tie at St Ives full of confidence.

“We were much better than them,” said Forrest.

“I had a go at the players at half time, because they were holding back a little bit – but they turned it on in the second half.

“We’re playing well, we’re full of confidence, and we’re very fit. We were certainly fitter than Whitley in the last 20 minutes.

“St Ives probably had somebody at the game watching us – so hopefully we’ve given then plenty to think about.”

Unfortunately, Shildon’s plans to watch their opponents in action were thwarted by the bad weather.

The Railwaymen, who will be backed by around 200 fans next Saturday, took the lead when Chris Hughes cut in from the right and was brought down in the box, Andy Johnson converting the penalty.

Shildon got another penalty a few minutes later for handball by Richard Hodgson, but Johnson was denied a second.

Whitley, who are at Chertsey on Saturday, equalised just on half-time when Darren Timmons scored from a free kick.

But Shildon took a grip on the game in the second half, and went into the lead when Martin Houlahan fired into the bottom corner, and then Sam Garvie grabbed the third when he turned in a Justin Keegan header.

In the second division, second bottom Darlington RA threw away a two goal lead against Washington and had to settle for a 2-2 draw at Brinkburn Road.

The RA looked as if they would reduce the gap on fifth bottom Washington when Tony Abel gave them the lead with a 20 yarder, and then he made it 2-0 when he chased a long clearance from keeper Josh Moody and scored from a tight angle.

But Washington pulled a goal back when Peter Watling chested the ball down and fired home his 20th goal of the season, and late in the game, Tony Healer levelled with a looping header and give them their first league point since mid October.

RA joint manager Lee Tucker said: “It was a good performance, but that’s five times now we’ve dropped points by conceding a late goal.”

DURHAM City manager Lee Collings thought that his side missed a good opportunity to pick up their first points of the season when they lost 2-1 at home to FC United of Manchester on Saturday.

City played some good football in the second half, but dropped two defensive clangers to hand the points to the visitors in front of their biggest crowd of the season.

“I felt that we could have got something out of the game,” said Collings.

“We had a foothold in the game at 0-0, but then we lost it through our inexperience and naivety.

“We shot ourselves in the foot through bad decision making.

“Overall, I thought the players played within themselves, and maybe they were a little bit nervous after losing heavily last week.”

Both sides had their chances in the first half, but FC United took the lead when City lost possession and Kyle Jacobs crossed for Joe Yoffe to score from a few yards.

The visitors went 2-0 up when Phil Marsh won possession, and scored with a 30 yarder into the top corner.

City pulled one back in stoppage time with a 25 yard freekick by sub Carl Heiniger.

■ All games in the Wearside League were called off on Saturday.

Early decisions were taken at most grounds but despite being hopeful that their fixture with Annfield Plain might go ahead, Wolviston eventually had to concede defeat to the weather.