North Shields completed a remarkable record with their 5-2 away win at Ryton and Crawcrook – they have gone through the calendar year unbeaten away from home in the league.

Their last away league defeat was at Whickham in September 2010, a run of 24 games.

However, it wasn’t easy as after Andy Hay gave Shields the lead, Ryton levelled through Dan Briggs. Mark Rasmussen and Paul Gordon made it 3-1, and after Gordon was sent off, Adam Rowntree pulled it back to 3-2. However, Shields recovered and Scott Blandford and Dean Holmes added further goals.

Shields have two more league games scheduled for this year, both at home.

North Shields manager Anthony Woodhouse said: “We conceded two sloppy goals in the first half, and over 90 minutes the game was an even affair. Ryton worked hard and 5-2 flattered us. But it was a good result, and sets us up for Hebburn on Tuesday and Crook on Saturday.”

Peter Watling, the leading scorer in the second division, proved his worth with both Team Northumbria goals in their 2-1 away win at Gillford Park, for whom player manager Steve Skinner scored late in the game.

Team Northumbria director of football Paul Johnson said: “I was really pleased with our response to last week’s poor performance. Gillford are one of the team that are pushing us at the moment so we knew that we needed to raise our levels and slow their season down. We knew that they would play everything long and commit players forward and so we looked to exploit that and play on the counter attack which got us two goals. We could have scored more, and we limited them to just one shot.”

Crook, under the temporary charge of former Darlington midfielder Gary Pearson, lost 3-0 at Morpeth, for whom Gareth McAlpine, Connor Andrews (2) scoring in the last twenty minutes. Both sides also had a man sent off.

Pearson will again be in charge of Crook’s next game on Wednesday against West Allotment.

Northallerton climbed up a place into seventh with a 3-1 home win over Horden. Carl Chillingsworth put them into the lead, but hard working Horden levelled through Stephen Jackson.

However, Northallerton scored straight from the restart through Colin Anderson, and Dan Clayton made sure later in the second half. Horden only had the bare eleven, and played for the entire second half with ten men after one went off injured.

Northallerton manager Mark Fanning said: “We huffed and puffed for a long time at 0-0, and when we went 1-0 up, we made the mistake of thinking that we’d done enough.”

Horden manager Brian Honour said: “I have nothing but pride for the eleven lads who showed up. We lost a player after 30 minutes because of injury, so we played for an hour with ten men. I was disgusted with the players who didn’t bother to show up and didn’t fancy a game.”

Hebburn hit top form, beating bottom club Easington 5-2, playing most of the game with ten men after Joe Elliott was red carded for denying a goalscoring opportunity. Hebburn took the lead through Dan Kirkup, and after Elliott was dismissed, Easington equalised through Callum Charlton levelled from the spot. Dean Nicholson restored Hebburn’s lead when his cross was deflected in, only for Andy Hall to equalise.

Hebburn took control in the second half, and scored three times through Tony Stephenson, Stuart Wright and Paul King.

Hebburn manager Paul Bennett said: “We went 1-0 up and then immediately went down to ten men when Joe Elliott was sent off.. We played 80 minutes with ten men and two sloppy mistakes pegged us back, but credit goes to all the players for brilliantly controlling a game with ten men, and to be fair we could have scored another few.”

Easington manager Andy Colledge said: “We can’t concede goals the way we are at the minute if we are to get ourselves out of trouble. On a plus point we are improving as a team.”

West Allotment also scored five, and without reply, against Seaham Red Star, who had their keeper, Paul McSween sent off after 30 minutes. Allotment scored their goals in the second half through Mark Minto, a Craig McManus own goal, Paul Swithenbank, Gary Day and Dean Lee.

Seaham manager Steve Cook said: “If anything could go wrong it did. We had Michael Turnbull stretchered off after 2 minutes, our keeper Paul McSween sent off somewhat harshly after half an hour. Five minutes in the second half there was a penalty given against us that no-one appealed for, then an own goal. I’ve backed my squad and will continue to do so but I deserve better than I got back from some players today, and more importantly so does the club.”

West Allotment manager Paul Stoneman said; “I thought we played some good stuff and we were well on top until their keeper got a red card. We scored five good goals in the second half, and to be fair it could have been eight or nine.”

Chester-le-Street moved above Ryton to fourth bottom with a 3-1 home win over Washington. Jake Leighton fired Washington into the lead, but Chester hit back with goals by Tom Vickers, Michael Coghlan and Callum Patton.

Chester-le-Street manager Anth Smith said: “It was a good performance on a poor surface. It was an end to end game, with both teams playing positively. We played some great stuff and created many chances.”

Birtley beat Brandon 2-1. Julian Allsopp and Andrew Grant-Soulsby put Birtley two goals up before Mark Brischuk replied for Brandon.

Birtley manager Scott Oliver said: “They had more ball than us but we always were a threat. We were hanging on a bit though at the end.”