PICKERING Town suffered a rare defeat in the Northern Counties East League premier division as they went down 3-0 at home to Arnold Town.

A win for manager Mark Wood’s men would have thrust the Pikes into the top five, but the Ryedale side slipped a place to seventh.

Joe Naylor opened the scoring on 45 minutes, Josh Thornton added a second on 79 and Tony Law wrapped it up six minutes later.

Scarborough Athletic moved above Pickering into fifth after their 2-0 home win over Long Eaton United in the only other Easter Monday fixture in the top flight.

Meanwhile, Tadcaster Albion will be aiming for the summit of division one tonight when they travel to basement side Worsbrough Bridge Athletic.

A victory would see Albion move level on points with leaders Brighouse, but ahead of their rivals on goal difference.

Harrogate Railway Athletic beat fellow strugglers Garforth Town 4-1 in UniBond League division one north.

Aaron Hollingdrake gave Railway a second minute lead, although Paul Johnson levelled for the hosts on 29 minutes.

Andy Jackson restored the lead on 69 minutes, but the game wasn’t made safe until Dan Thirkell and Dan Buttle struck in the last three minutes.