Shildon now in top two with sixth win in a row

The Railwaymen won 3-0 to put them just three points behind leaders Stockton Town, and manager Danny Moore said; “I thought it was a comfortable win.

“The first half was tough because the pitch wasn’t very good, but we were more comfortable in the second half and saw the game out.

“We had plenty of shots at goal, and we dominated the game after the first 15/20 games.

“We have to keep this form going now, and get some more points on the board.”

Shildon took the lead through Zak Atkinson from close range, and after half time Danny Craggs made it 2-0 after Atkinson’s shot was saved. With twelve minutes remaining Ben Trotter ran through and scored the third.

Northallerton manager Darren Trotter said; “The result was not what we wanted however a good first half was punished by our only mistake after giving as good as we got.

“We made another mistake midway through the second half by not being organised at our set piece and in the end Shildon’s experience told as they ran out comfortable winners. A good lesson for us to use moving forward.”

Newton Aycliffe lost ground on the top six when they were beaten 3-2 at North Shields.

They got off to a great start with a goal by Liam Jarvie, but Shields hit back with two from Ryan Carr before half time. Dean Thexton equalised for Aycliffe, but Callum Patton scored the winner with seven minutes left.

Newton Aycliffe assistant manager Mark Wood said; “I thought we at least deserved a draw. I thought we defended well in the first half in the conditions, and in the second half we missed some good chances.”

Aycliffe have now dropped down to seventh, two points behind Shields.

Bishop Auckland were held to a 4-4 draw at home by Whitley Bay, after being 3-1 up at one stage.

There were seven goals in the first half. Bishops scored first through Jackson Waller, but Jake Martindale equalised. Bishops then went 3-1 up through Callum Munro and Thomas Bott, with Lewis Orrell scoring twice to level at 3-3. Michael Hoganson put Bishops 4-3 up, and even though Whitley had Luke Taylor red carded, Connor Smith equalised for them.

Bishop Auckland manager Ian Chandler said; “It was a very disappointing performance in windy conditions which we really never got to grips with. Somehow we were leading 3-1 and 4-3 but ended up stuttering to full time at 4-4 against 10 men. The second half I don't think we actually created a clear chance, very poor by us.”

West Auckland had a good 1-1 draw away to Newcastle Benfield and are now ninth in the table. Mechack Kanda put Benfield in the lead, but recent signing Craig Spooner equalised.

West Auckland manager Gary Forrest said; “They were awful conditions so we were pleased with the point. We’re having a good run -- 18 games, 13 wins, 3 draws and 2 defeats.”

Elsewhere in the first division, previous joint leaders Hebburn were beaten 4-2 at home by Billingham Town, so Stockton are now three points clear after beating Penrith 5-1.

In the second division, Crook Town are now up to third after beating Washington 3-0, overtaking Ryton and Crawcrook and Carlisle City, who both slipped up.

Jordan Fielding scored in the first half for Crook, with Daniel Kent scoring twice after the interval.

Manager Jamie Tunstall said; “I was delighted with the three points. Washington frustrated us at times but scoring early gave us a bit of breathing space. I thought we controlled the game for large spells and restricted them to few chances bar the clear chance in the first half where our defender got injured leaving their player in on goal. This time of year, you just need to get the points however way you can, and at times it wasn't pretty, but I felt like we deserved all three.”

Willington pulled off their second excellent win in three days by beating second placed Redcar Athletic at Hall Lane, Adam Storey scoring the only goal of the game just before the hour mark.

Willington manager Ibby Hassan said; “It was another solid performance against a top side. I felt that we looked very comfortable certainly in the first half and dictated the tempo. I thought Storey took his chance exceptionally well, but we know he has that quality and can punish teams.

“In the second half the game opened up somewhat but again we looked very comfortable at the back and kept an important clean sheet. It rounded off a fantastic week with two very good results, hopefully we can use this momentum and continue to climb the table.”

Willington are now up to 13th in the table.

Esh Winning gave themselves some breathing space over the bottom two by beating Tow Law 1-0 at Waterhouses, Channon North scoring just before half time.

Manager Tony Boakes said; “It was a fantastic team win against a very good Tow Law side. We had eleven players missing for various reasons so a squad of 13, with me calling a few favours in just to get a starting eleven saw us have a great win. It was a great goal by Channon, but to a man we were outstanding defensively.”

Tow Law manager Micky Vasey said; “We were outfought and outran. They wanted it more than us and deserved to win.”

Chester-le-Street, who had pushed themselves to the fringe of the promotion race, were easily beaten 4-0 at home by Heaton Stannington.

Manager Colin Wake said; “It was a very disappointing performance. From start to finish we were second best all over the pitch and got what we deserved. We missed a penalty right on half time which would have put us 1-0 up and possibly something to hold on to in the second half but errors early in the second half were punished and Heaton put us to the sword and ran out easy winners. A poor team performance.”

Brandon lost 4-1 at Bedlington after taking a first minute lead through Peter Gillis, and they’re still bottom of the table.

Manager Rob Bowron said; “We were poor overall again, despite a good opening twenty minutes. After then we made a couple of errors from set pieces and then lost our control of the game. It's a game we targeted something from, and we haven't done that.”

Durham City are just a point above Brandon after losing 4-0 at Easington, all the goals coming in the second half.