It was a classic from the Harwood playbook, powered into the net from a sweet James Coatsworth corner in much the same way he hauled his side back into a home match with Carlisle City back in August.

With just four minutes left of normal time, his goal put paid to a spirited Seaham who belied their lowly league placing and came close to sharing the spoils.

Manager Jason Newall made two changes from the Northallerton side that lost to Redcar in the North Riding Senior Cup, with Tafari Nicholas replacing Jack Raper at left wing-back and young striker Eddie Thomas replacing Alistair Banks. Thomas and Dan Dryden made their presence felt by stretching the visitors’ defence in the early stages and came close with a couple of chances.

It needed a goal-line clearance to deny Thomas after 22 minutes but there were dangerous moments at the other end as well, with home ‘keeper Callum Dobson saving the day with a tremendous close-range save from Seaham centre-forward Lewis Rutherford five minutes later.

Midfielder Nathan Stephenson brought a good save out of Matt Cassop shortly after the break, the Red Star ‘keeper doing well to tip his piledriver over the bar. As the clock ran down, Town made four changes from the bench in a bid to find a breakthrough.

‘Keeper Dobson almost got on the scoresheet in what would have been one of the goals of the season. His powerful long kick sailed over the Seaham defence and posed an urgent problem for his opposite number, Cassop.

The Seaham man elected to head it and was extremely relieved to see the ball bounce behind him and over the bar to safety. Then Jack Stapley danced round the back line to produce a shot that was blocked for a corner.

Harwood’s fine effort looked to have sealed it for Town – but Seaham caused a late scare in the fifth minute of injury time when they had the ball in the net, only for the effort to be ruled out for offside.

Northallerton Town: Dobson, Stapley, Cocks, Darville, Harwood, Allen, Nicholas (Coatsworth 70’), Walker, Dryden (Lamb 62’), Stephenson (Dixon 81’), Thomas (Banks 66’).

Sub not used: Ryan.

Seaham Red Star: Cassop, Lawson, Beattie, Duffy (Connelly 60’), McHarg, Burton, Hailes, Fletcher, Rutherford, Annang-Colquhoun, Weir (Bowes 90+1’).

Att: 119.

Man of the Match: Jamie Harwood.