Mulcaster to make big changes after humiliating defeat

Crook’s prospects of stopping in the first division now seem remote. They have won only once this season in the league, are four wins away from safety, and have conceded three short of a century of goals this season.

And it is clear that they need to improve the quality of their squad if they aren’t to suffer any more hammerings like this one.

“The second half was another rude awakening,” said Mulcaster. “It was a gluepot of a pitch, and Bedlington moved the ball around much better than we did. There are too many players at the club who think they are better than they are, and there are others who play as individuals and not as part of the team. I’ll be holding talks with the chairman this week about bringing some new players to the club.

“I thought the midweek display at Benfield was poor, but we were rescued by the fog and the game had to be abandoned. We could have done with some more fog again.”

Crook didn’t help themselves when they had David Webster dismissed for a last man foul in the opening minutes, but Lee Scott’s penalty was saved by Crook keeper Ryan Graham. New signing Adam Emson gave Crook some hope when he scored at the other end, but by half time Crook were 5-1 down and it was a matter of how many they would concede.

Jordan Nellis scored six, with Dylan Williamson scoring three , and Lee Scott and Sam Walton getting the others for Bedlington. Nellis has now scored 16 league goals this season.

Bedlington manager Ian Skinner said; “You can’t argue with the performance when you score eleven.”

West Auckland are now twelve points clear at the top after winning their local derby 4-1 at Bishop Auckland.

Bishops had the better of the first half with Johnny Butler hitting the bar , and west keeper Dan Lowson making two good saves. But West took the lead in bizarre circumstances when the ball was crossed into the Bishop six yard box from where keeper Scott Pocklington volleyed the ball against his own defender, Jamie Poole, and the ball rebounded into the net.

West went 2-0 up on 62 minutes when Adam Wilkinson headed in from an Alex Francis cross, and after Butler hit the bar and Lowson again pulled off two good saves, west went 3-0 up when Matty Moffat headed past Pocklington.

Luke Carr made it 4-0 at the second attempt, before Butler pulled a late goal back.

Bishop Auckland manager Davis Bayles said; “At half time, West were leading 1-0 and hadn’t had a shot on target. We could have been out of sight by half time, West’s goal had a charmed life. We could have won 4-1 instead of them.”

West Auckland manager Anth Smith said; “We rode our luck a little bit in the first half, and Dan Lowson kept us in the game. We were a different team in the second half, but 4-1 was maybe not a true reflection of the game.”

Jarrow Roofing are now fourth thanks to a good 3-0 away win at Durham City.

They took the lead on 16 minutes when Malky Morien dispossessed a defender , ran into the box and fired into the top corner. Lewis Teasdale got the second seven minutes after half time from a Peter Leven corner, and with three minutes left Anthony Myers made it 3-0 from a Teasdale pass.

Durham manager Ian Chandler said; “A very disappointing first half display left us chasing the game and their second just after half time made things worse. We did improve and missed three good chances, but Roofing were worthy winners.”

Jarrow Roofing manager Richie McLoughlin said; “It was the best game we played this season and the players were great with commitment, workrate and good play.”

Guisborough increased the pressure on third bottom Billingham Synthonia with a 6-0 win at the King George.

Former Synner Danny Earl headed Guisborough into the lead after 15 minutes, then seven minutes later Andy May scored from another left wing corner. Luke Bythway fired the third just before half time.

Peter Bulmer dribbled through and scored the fourth on 65 minutes, then Leon Carling quickly added the fifth from a free kick. Guisborough had plenty of chances to add a sixth before Anthony Hume scored from another corner in the last minute.

Guisborough are now up to sixth in the table.

Synners keeper Joseph Fryer, signed from Middlesbrough, was their fifth in as many games.

Guisborough manager Chris Hardy said; “The opening 45 minutes display showed some of the most fluent, expansive football that I have seen in my time at the club, this gave us a great platform to go on and win emphatically with a clean sheet to boot.”

Second bottom Sunderland RCA won their first away game of the season when they beat West Allotment 3-1 in their relegation battle.

They took the lead with a 20 yarder by Andy Brown, but after RCA keeper Josh Carmichael pulled off two good saves, Allotment equalised when Sean Reid’s header was blocked, and Paul Stoneman scored from the rebound.

The RCA took control of the second half, and scored their second when Steve Callen drilled the ball home from 20 yards , then Joe Hughes ran though and scored in the bottom corner.

The RCA are now just a point behind Synners with six games in hand.

Sunderland RCA manager Marty Swales said; “We dominated the game and were strong in all areas.”

West Allotment manager Paul Stoneman said; “After doing so well at West Auckland earlier in the week, we let ourselves down massively. We were awful from start to finish and got what we deserved. We are well and truly involved in a relegation battle going into the second half of the season. That wasn’t us of late on Saturday, RCA deserved the win.”

Celtic Nation were nudged closer to the relegation fight when they lost 4-2 at home to Morpeth.

Jordan Fry gave Morpeth a half time lead, then Dan Taggert scored his first goal for the club just after half time. The Nation pulled a goal back through Aaron Roberts, but Sean Taylor made it 3-1. James Novak scored a fourth, before Dean Douglas scored a late consolation for the Nation, who are six points above the relegation zone.

Morpeth manager Nick Gray said; “The lads worked their socks off and if we scored eight, Celtic Nation couldn’t have complained.”

In the second division, Norton went top of the table with a point from a 2-2 draw at Darlington RA. Norton were ahead twice in the game, but were pegged back by the RA. Rocky Andrews and Harrison Davies scored for Norton, with Christian Holliday and Josh Bynoe equalising for the RA.

RA keeper Phil Pentony was red carded with two minutes left for retaliation following a challenge.

Norton manager Andy Campbell said; “We’re disappointed to drop two points. We were ahead twice but gave two sloppy goals away from setpieces, but a point away from home is a point towards our target.”

Darlington RA manager Warren Moncur said; “We started really well and outfought them in the first 45 minutes and fell behind against the run of play. After we equalised, the second half was very much the same as the first but we fell behind to a dubious goal after the assistant flagged offside, the ref waved play on and they scored.”

Washington are looking strong in third after beating Chester-le-Street 4-0 at the Nissan Sports Complex. James Fairley and Michael Coghlan scored twice within eight minutes in the first half, and Fairley completed his hat trick in the second half. Fairley has now got 19 goals for the season.

Chester-le-Street manager Colin Wake said; “We were well and truly beaten by the better side, could and should have been more. Just a rank bad day at the office against the best side we have played this year by a mile.”

Washington manager Steve Hutchinson said; “It was a great performance. We created lots of chances, and it’s always nice to keep a clean sheet as well.”

Team Northumbria recovered from two recent defeats with a comfortable 4-0 away win at Heaton Stannington to keep them in fourth spot, eight points clear of fifth placed Hebburn who didn’t play on Saturday.

Samuel Perez-Gutierrez, brother of the Newcastle player, scored twice, with Ben Dibb-Fuller and new signing David Dormand scoring the others.

Team North have now kept twelve clean sheets this season.

Heaton Stannington assistant manager Geoff Walker said; “It was a very poor performance from us, and we deserved nothing. It could have been more than four. There was a lack of heart.”

Willington had their best win of the season, beating Alnwick 6-1 at Hall Lane. It could have been more if Jason White and Adam Burnicle hadn’t missed two penalties.

Alnwick were in the game until the 27th minute when Burnicle opened the scoring, and before half time, he and Jason White had added two more. Bell made it 4-0 on the hour, and after Adam Shanks had pulled a goal back, Burnicle completed his hat trick, with Bell adding another.

Willington manager Rob Lee said; “We played some good football today. As well as scoring six, their keeper saved two penalties.”

Thornaby are up to seventh after they cruised to a 6-1 win in their local derby at Billingham Town. Curtis Edwards sidefooted Thornaby in front on 10 minutes, and fired a second from the edge of the box on 28 minutes. He completed his hat trick from a free kick three minutes after half time, and after Town pulled one back with a Drew Lambert penalty, Thornaby scored three in the last eleven minutes through Matthew McQueeny, Craig Ruddy and Richie Walker.

Thornaby manager Paul Edwards said; “It was our best performance of the season so far and thoroughly deserved. There were stand out performances from Curtis Edwards and Craig Ruddy.”

Billingham Town manager Darren Trotter said; “We were beaten by a better team on the day. We were outplayed in all departments. I was naïve myself in chasing the game when we pulled it back to 3-1, and the score could have been worse in the end. We learn from it and hope that it won’t happen again, we will find out what characters we have in the group now.”

Bottom club Brandon’s hopes of recovery suffered a blow when they lost 3-0 at home to Birtley, for whom Kai Hewitson (2) and Andrew Peacock were on target.

Birtley manager Tony Boakes said; “It was another hard fought win.”

Brandon manager Paul Tunstall said; “It was the same old story. We created many chances and failed to take any of them. Birtley had three chances and scored all three. The game was pretty evenly matched throughout the 90, but we have to start scoring goals to pick up vital points.”

Esh Winning are still second bottom after they lost 2-0 at home to Whickham, for whom Scott Swanston and Mark Fitzpatrick scored.

Esh Winning manager Chris Blakelock said; “It was just a Northern League scrap, and could have gone either way. Whickham played the conditions a bit better, not a match for the spectators.”

Whickham manager Robin Falcus said; “We played the conditions well and should have scored a lot more than we did. The lads did what was asked of them and we just need to put a run together to get back in touch with the top six.”

Fourth bottom Stokesley lost 2-1 at Northallerton. Danny McLachlan and Damon Reeks scored for Northallerton, with David Edwards replying for Stokesley.

Northallerton manager Steve Skinner said; “I was very pleased as we were not at our best today, but we showed we can still win by not playing well. We had to ask questions at half time and they answered us well. It was a tough game on a boggy pitch.”

Ryhope CW ended a run of four games without a win by defeating South Shields 2-1.

They took a first half lead through an own goal, but Stephen Ramsey equalised six minutes after the break, However, Mattie Weirs got the winner late in the game.

Ryhope CW manager Gary Pearson said; “It was a hard fought result as there were two bad teams on show unfortunately. A draw would have been fair but a win is a win and three points is what we needed. It was an improvement on the last few results so I take that as a positive.”

The games at Penrith and Tow Law were postponed because of frozen pitches.

In the EvoStik Premier Division, Whitby drew 2-2 with Kings Lynn. They were ahead twice through Matthew Brown and David McTiernan.

The draw for the third round of the Brooks Mileson Memorial League Cup is; Bedlington Terriers v Guisborough Town, Seaham Red Star v North Shields, Penrith v Morpeth, , Team Northumbria v Washington, Bishop Auckland v Ashington, Dunston UTS v Stokesley, Shildon v Billingham Synthonia, Newton Aycliffe v Marske United.

The draw for the quarter finals of the Ernest Armstrong Cup is; Birtley v South Shields, Billingham Town v Chester-le-Street, Thornaby v Norton and Stockton Ancients, Darlington RA or Team Northumbria v Washington.