Penrith slumped to a 5-0 defeat at title-chasing North Shields in the Northern League’s First Division to edge nearer the drop.
Rivals at the bottom, Bishop Auckland (won 1-0 at West Auckland) and Northallerton (drew 2-2 at home to Crook Town) had encouraging results to leave Penrith in more danger next to bottom.
Holding up the table, Billingham Town, look certain to fall into Division Two and Penrith trail Northallerton by a point and Bishops by two going into the last four games.
Penrith, who were only able to travel with just the one substitute, were 3-0 down at the break and that quickly became 4-0 within five minutes of the restart. The fifth Shields goal came two minutes from the end.
Chairman Bill Williams said: “There’s so much positivity going on at the club with new sponsors and investments is is so frustrating to see us struggling on the pitch.
“Considering the position we find ourselves in it was extremely disappointing to only have 12 men to travel, although one lad had to take his wife to hospital after she spilt some boiling water on herself.
“North Shields will claim the League title if they win their games in hand so they were obviously fired up for it. On Saturday we entertain Consett the team who are on top at the moment so it’s another tough one.
“Consett have had a bit of a blip after looking all over the champions a couple of months ago. They lost again yesterday so perhaps they are vulnerable.
“All we can do is keep the faith and believe it’s still possible to survive. Unfortunately it’s not in our own hands.”
