They travel to play-off contenders West Auckland on Tuesday at the start of what is now a 10-game season to preserve their Ebac Northern League Division One status. Six of those fixtures are against teams in the top 10, so they will probably have to take points off some of the leading sides.

It was hard to see Saturday’s defeat coming at half-time on Tyneside. The visitors had swept into an early lead and should have been further ahead than the single goal that separated the sides.

And that was the problem. Northallerton’s failure to convert good chances encouraged a transformed Whickham to grab the contest by the scruff of the neck and complete the double over Town.

Given that the Lang Jacks have won only four league games all season, that is a particularly unwelcome stat for Northallerton.

Manager Colin Myers named new signing Benji Shodeinde up front and chose Matty Kirokiro over Jack Stapley as his wide-right midfielder in the only changes from Town’s 3-1 victory over West Allotment a fortnight ago. Shodeinde showed great pace and movement and did enough to suggest he will be a major asset in the next two months.

Northallerton’s opener after 19 minutes was well-worked, midfielder Jack Wilson squaring neatly across the box for Croft to convert from close range for an eighth goal of the season that restores parity with Alistair Banks in the race for the golden boot.

Shodeinde hit the side netting after half-an-hour and was a constant menace to the home defence with crosses into the box that his team-mates failed to take advantage of. That shows promise once everyone else gets on the same wavelength.

Whickham took advantage as Northallerton ran out of ideas in the second half. They used their wide men to great effect, stretching the visitors’ back three, and equalised through danger man Joe Aungiers on 58 minutes after Harvey Rudd had blocked an initial shot.

That gave them belief and Aungiers put his side ahead with his second goal three minutes from the end of normal time. Substitute Dan Craggs put the game out of Northallerton’s reach with a third goal in injury time as Whickham were rewarded for a hungry and committed second-half performance.

Town were unlucky when Shodeinde hit the bar just after the hour but finished the match very much on the back foot.

Whickham: Walker, Jensen, Power, Purvis (Davies 78), McNamara, Attewell, Hardy (Reed 58), Heywood (Craggs 76), Adamson, Ions (Cunnigham 52), Aungiers.

Northallerton Town: Crowle, Rudd, Grundle, Coatsworth (Raitt 85), Jacob Wilson, Jack Wilson, Kirokiro (Stapley 66), Hughes, Croft (Myers 83), Shodeinde (Banks 79), Dobinson.

Subs not used: Sartini.