Bishop Auckland manager Colin Myers was very encouraged even though they lost their local derby 4-1 at West Auckland on Saturday.

Bishops showed plenty of battle to get back into the game at 1-1 in the first half, but their half time team talk went out of the windown early in the second half.

"It wasn't a 4-1 game really, because I thought we rolled our sleeves up and worked hard. We passed the ball around well.

"At half time, I really thought that we would get something out of the game, but they scored straight away.

"But the experienced players we brought into the club over the last few days, Phil Brumwell and Ian Dixon, made a big difference to us. We've been missing that."

Mattie Moffat headed West into the lead after 14 minutes, but Bishops fought back and just before half time former West player Dan Olusoga levelled from ten yards.

West regained the lead straight after the restart when Moffat split the defence for Dan Hindmarsh to fire home, and he also created the third for Stuart Banks on 80 minutes. Right at the end, Moffat crowned a superb personal performance by running through and firing past Peter Jeffries.

At the top of the division, Consett have now won their last eight league and cup matches after a 3-1 away win at Jarrow Roofing, who included four new signings.

They took the lead when Jamie Poole headed down a right wing cross for Danny Craggs to tap in, and after 40 minutes Kieran Megran made it 2-0 with a deflected shot from the edge of the area.

Gavin Barton and Richie Slaughter both missed good chances, before Gavin Ross sent Barton through, and he rounded the keeper for his 13th goal of the season.

Peter Watling pulled a goal back for Roofing late in the game.

Shildon overtook Spennymoor into second thanks to a 2-1 away win at Sunderland RCA. Shildon took the lead after 31 minutes when Sam Garvie was fouled and Craig Price scored from the spot, and they scored their second on the hour from a setpiece, Jamie Harwood sidefooting in from a corner.

The RCA pulled a goal back through Stephen Jones ten minutes later, but the Railwaymen held on for the win.

Fortunately for Bishops, third bottom Stokesley had a bad day, being thumped 6-0 at Bedlington.

Stokesley kept the score goalless until just before half time, when Stuart Elliott fired in from the edge of the box, and after that it was one way traffic. The league’s top scorer, Alex Benjamin took his tally for the season to 29 with a second half hat trick, with Steven Baptist, signed from Gateshead, scoring the other two.

Tow Law’s first home game since their enforced break saw them lose 1-0 to South Shields.

There wasn’t much to choose between the two sides until Shields’ Paul Stoneman headed in from a few yards on the half hour. Lawyers improved in the second half and hit the woodwork twice through Greg Halliday and Luke Parkinson.

Billingham Town ended a run of three games without a win and a goal with a 2-1 victory at West Allotment.

Paul Gardiner gave Allotment the lead in the opening minutes from the edge of the box, but Town eventually clawed their way back into the game on 73 minutes when Micky Dunwell equalised. And the Town striker was left completely unmarked to fire the winner from six yards on 79 minutes.