Newton Aycliffe returned to winning ways and the top 10 of the Division One table after a comfortable victory over hapless Billingham Town.
Goals from Paul Broom, Tom Atkinson and Dan Wilson saw Aycliffe to a second successive three-point haul in a match in which they barely broke sweat.
The visitors – who had lost their last two away games 11-0 and 9-0 and are rooted to the foot of the table – could only name nine players in their starting line-up.
And were it not for a superb display from goalkeeper Mark Bell and wayward finishing, Billy Town could have been on the end of another heavy defeat.
Jamie Owens and John Close went close with early headers before Atkinson fired narrowly wide.
Either side of the half-hour mark, Stuart Owen flashed an effort wide and Harrison Davies crashed a shot off the bar.
But the deadlock was finally broken 11 minutes before the break when Broom slotted in from the right.
Bell prevented Davies from adding a second with a fantastic save, but could do nothing from the resulting corner when his defence failed to clear their lines and Atkinson pounced on a loose ball and swept in.
Owens missed the chance to get his name on the scoresheet when his spot-kick, awarded for a foul on Aycliffe’s top-scorer, was clawed away from the bottom corner by Bell.
Youngster Kurt Seymour became the second Newtonian to hit the frame of the goal on the hour mark but Wilson soon popped in a third after great work from Dan Mellanby.
Owens was frustrated when a couple of headers narrowly missed the target before Stuart Owen made it a hat-trick of shots bouncing off the bar.
Bell continued to frustrate Aycliffe’s players in the closing stages, saving Dion Raitt’s header from point-blank range and then palming away Wilson’s low drive.
Aycliffe will now hope they can match their first-rate home form with a rare win away, when they travel to Guisborough net Saturday.
