I was at the Durham v Histon game at Hetton, Durham played like they were in the Conference, they were unlucky not to get more than the 2-2 draw, but I am unconvinced they would have been set up financially by playing Swindon, as they could not play at Belmont in the cup, they were having to play Cup games on the road, and they probably would not have got local authority/FA/Police Clearance to play a 1st Round at Hetton, being made to hire a bigger ground in the area to host it.
From what I remember Durham were in the shit the day they were told they would never progress to Conference North with the 3G pitch, financially sound or not, that must have been a kick in the teeth, they went on a massive decline after that, and again if I remember correct, there team the following season was pretty much made up of college kids, average age of about 18/19 and they got the shit kicked out of them every game sometimes having 9 or 10 put on them.
As for Northern League teams in the Cup, Ashington had a good run last year, beating higher teams, only to be beaten by Grimsby in the 4Q Round. I still remember one of the more well known cup runs in recent years, Bedlington in either 98 or 99, they murdered Colchester in the 1st Round 4-1, they were beaten by Scunthorpe in the 2nd.
In recent years, Shildon made the 1st Round in 2003, Newcastle Benfield were defeated by York in 4Q in 2006 and Easington Colliery played Chester and were defeated in 4Q in the early 00's. So the quality of the League is very good, but I feel like there is an attitude like 'we want to be home on good time for tea' and it would not actually surprise me if the League Committee lean on clubs and pressure them not to take promotion, because Chairman Amos himself has been quite opinionated and outspoken on it in the past
RE: football