Bringing you the latest news from across the North East from Monday 10 May to Friday 14 May 2021

Oxford United boss Karl Robinson receives a four-game touchline ban after being found guilty of improper conduct against Sunderland.

Sunderland will face Lincoln in the League One play-offs after finishing the regular season with a 1-1 draw against relegated Northampton.

Richard Moss
Political editor, North East & Cumbria

With Labour losing overall control of Durham County Council for the first time in a century, discussions will need to take place.

The party lost 21 seats in Thursday's vote leaving it with 53 of the authority's 126 councillors - 11 short of a majority.

Independents and smaller parties won 31 seats, a collective gain of three.

The Conservatives secured 24 seats, a gain of 14, with the Liberal Democrats taking a total of 17 across the county, up three.

Labour clearly needs to do a deal with someone. The Lib Dems or some of the independents seems most likely.

There's not really a rainbow coalition as an alternative to Labour minority admin.

Image source, Durham County Council

Discussions are expected to take place around forming a coalition with other councillors.

Labour's Joy Allen was declared the winner after a full recount of the votes.

Local Democracy Reporting Service
James Harrison

Votes in the contest to become the next Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Durham had to be counted twice before Labour’s Joy Allen could be declared winner.

Labour looked to have opened a commanding lead over the Conservatives in the contest after first preference ballots had been tallied up.

But shortly after counting of the second preference votes from the defeated Liberal Democrat candidate began, "discrepancies" were found in the first batch, prompting officials to start again from scratch.

Labour eventually finished with a combined total of 80,510 votes – more than 3,000 ahead of Conservative challenger George Jabbour on 77,352 – once all voted were combined.

Liberal Democrat candidate Anne-Marie Curry was knocked out after the first round of voting and her first preference ballots were redistributed between the surviving pair.

Newcastle Falcons run in five second-half tries to seal a 52-27 win over London Irish after trailing at half-time.

Sam Barratt's hat-trick helps 10-man Maidenhead defeat promotion-chasing Hartlepool.

Labour's Norma Redfearn got almost 14,000 more votes than Conservative Steven Robinson.

Wycombe's relegation from the Championship is rubber-stamped despite finishing with a convincing victory at Middlesbrough.

Conservatives win the most number of seats, but the authority is likely to remain coalition-led.

Luke Walton
BBC Look North

Perhaps I should have brought my sleeping bag to the Durham Police and Crime Commisisioner and Durham County Council counts - it's currently two or three hours behind schedule with a recount for the PCC due to "discrepancies".

Labour were a nose ahead before.

It's unclear what the recount means for the result.

Either way it's a long day ahead - the final ward count starts at 20:00.

Lee Johnson
BBC Tees

The results for Hartlepool Council are in and it’s another huge success for the Conservatives, taking every seat they contested.

• Conservatives 13 (+9)
• Lab 11 (+5)
• Independents 10
• Independent Union 2

No party has overall control. A continued coalition of Tories and Independents is highly likely.

Straws have been drawn to decide a winner in one of Hartlepool Council's wards after a tie between two Labour candidates.

It was a dead heat for Moss Boddy and Julie Clayton in the Rossmere Ward.

Moss Boddy won the straw draw.

The result for the full council is expected to be announced later.

We're expecting a few more results this afternoon. Here is what is due to be declared

• Durham County Council
• Hartlepool Council
• Durham Police and Crime Commissioner
• North Tyneside Mayor

John Herdman hopes to be able to display the replica, which took three months to build.

Relive all the action as Oxford United win to take the last League One play-off place, while Charlton and Portsmouth miss out.

Newcastle move to within one point of Premier League safety with an impressive win over Champions League-chasing Leicester City.

Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce says his side's "deadly counter-attack" has made the difference in their positive performances in recent weeks after his side beat Leicester City 4-2.