Durrant unhappy with City in defeat

Durham City assistant manager Stephen Durrant admitted that his side were “not good enough” in their 3-0 defeat at Tow Law Town.

Goals from Dale Milburn, Matthew Pennal and Dan Kirkup condemned the Citizens to a comprehensive defeat Ironworks Road and left Durrant to deliver a brutal assessment of their performance.

He said: “The performance was not good enough. We have had two weeks without a game since a stellar performance against Billingham Town and the rebound was inevitable.

“That said, we did not perform well, and we know exactly why the result did not go our way. We are, and we will be, better than this.”

Thornaby took over at the top of the Division Two table with a 2-1 home win over former leaders Billingham Town.

Jack Bailey put Thornaby ahead midway through the first-half, but Town got back on level terms ahead of half-time thanks to an equaliser from Elliott Beddow.

A Kurtis Howes penalty restored the hosts’ lead just after the hour-mark and they held on to claim a win to leapfrog their opponents.

Northallerton Town are in third place after an Aaron Ramsbottom goal and an own goal from Brennan Ball gave the North Yorkshire side all three points at Welfare Park.

Heaton Stannington and Chester-le-Street Town failed to break the deadlock over a below-par 90 minutes at Grounsell Park.

An Adam Preston hattrick fired in-form Redcar Athletic to a comfortable 3-0 win at Bedlington Terriers and Connor Smith, Tom Bligh and Louis Johnson found the net in Billingham Synthonia’s 3-1 win at Washington.

Two Scott Jasper goals and an opener from Sam Norris put Ryton &Crawcrook Albion on their way to a 3-1 home win against Jarrow FC.

Brandon United and Birtley Town drew as Ben Joyeux’s first-half opener was cancelled out by Daniel Hill on 66 minutes.