The Northern Echo Darlington Sunday Invitation League

DIVISION TWO

AFTER a close race it was the Highland Laddie who edged out the Shuttle and Loom to win the Second Division title thanks to a nail-biting victory over the Fighting Cocks on Sunday.

With the Shuttle having finished their league season on Thursday night the Laddie knew that a win was required in order to clinch the title and they started well, pinning the Fighting Cocks back early on.

However, their hosts looked dangerous on the break and only a fine save by Luke Stott in the Laddie goal prevented them from taking the lead with their first attack. After half an hour the Fighting Cocks did break the deadlock when the impressive James Dinsdale hit an excellent controlled volley from 25 yards over Stott and into the net.

The Laddie then looked disjointed for the remainder of the half and could have conceded again, but the break came at the right time for the visitors and they were able to regroup for a much better second-half performance.

It looked as though it was not to be the Laddie's day as both Jon Roote and Rory Edwards saw shots cleared off the line and Alan Percival hit the bar, but with a little over 20 minutes of their season remaining Roote struck a 25 yarder into the top corner of the net and five minutes later powered home a header to send the Laddie and their contingent ecstatic.

There then followed a nervy few minutes before Percival finished calmly to make the game safe late on and spark wild celebrations on the Laddie touchline.

A turbulent game between the Red Lion and Bay Horse Goodfellas saw Goodfellas triumph by the margin of 3-1. Mark Corry opened the scoring for the visitors, only for the Lion to equalise shortly before the break with a Dave Tushick strike.

However Goodfellas earned their victory in the second period with goals from Mick Dolan and Wes Tarn, and it was only several fine reflex saves from Preston Slade in the Red Lion goal that prevented a bigger winning margin.

DIVISION ONE

SPRAIRE RA completed their league fixtures with a comfortable 3-0 victory over DSRM All Stars. After a bright opening for the home side Ross Wetherall volleyed home to give Spraire the advantage, one which had doubled by half time, thanks to a Harzem strike.

The second half saw All Stars attempt a fight back, with Darren Kokes going close twice, before William Tutty scored a spectacular third for Spraire firing home from 30 yards.

Haughton Grey Horse continued to chase the leaders as a four-goal blast from Gary Mitchell took them past Haughton WMC, for whom Gary Dent and Danny McLaughlin scored in a 4-2 reverse.

Smith and Allan comfortably beat Stadia 9-2. The Smith and Allan scoring was led by a Nick Lyons hat-trick, with Michael Weston (2), Chris Marksby (2), Kevin Duggan and Chris Hall also notching. The Stadia replies both came from Richard Bestford.

With the East End and Hurworth match having gone the way of the dogs the only other game played saw Turks Head triumph 3-2 against Haughton in the battle of the bottom two. The Turks goals came courtesy of Elliot McCabe, who scored twice, and Paul Tully, while the Haughton strikes came from Paul Cooper and Dean Ridley

DIVISION THREE

THE battle between the top two Wheatsheaf and Longfield resulted in an easy victory for the Division champions. The home side soon found themselves 3-0 down but an Ian Braithwaite goal and a Michael Ward penalty pulled the game back to 3-2.

However this inspired Longfield who turned on the style to emerge 8-2 victors. The Longfield scoring was led by Dave Raine who helped himself to five, while Adam Hughes, Lee Hammond and Mark Finn also added their names to the score sheet.

The Northern Echo and the New All Stars played out an exciting end to end game which saw both sides deservedly share the points. The Echo opened the scoring only for Danny Pugh to equalise. Despite the Echo once again taking the lead it was Pugh who finished the scoring as the game ended 2-2. The Echo scorers were Gary Pallas and Flor Kerins.

The derby match between Darlington Cricket Club and Sherwoods saw nine goals, culminating in a 6-3 victory for a Rob Harland inspired Cricket Club. Their scoring was led by Ste Park and Danny Wilson, who both scored twice, while Harland and Andrew Peacock also netted. The Sherwoods replies came courtesy of Mike Nimmo, Dean Thomas and Mark Foster.

The final game played in the division saw the Bengal Tigers confirm promotion in their first season in the league with a 5-3 victory away to Affinity Healthcare.

Fixtures: Sunday: The Northern Echo League Cup Semi-Finals: DSRM All Stars v Grey Horse, Hurworth Albion v Shuttle and Loom.

Division One: East End v Stadia.

Division Two: Red Lion v Killinghall Arms, Fighting Cocks v AFC Brinkburn.

Division Three: Bengal Tigers v Longfield, New All Stars v DfES, Wheatsheaf v Affinity Healthcare.

Thursday, May 10: Division One: Smith and Allan v Hurworth Albion.

Results: Division One: Smith & Allan 9 Stadia 2, Turks Head 3 Haughton 2, Spraire RA 3 DSRM All Stars 0, East End WMC P Hurworth Albion P, Haughton WMC 2 Grey Horse 4.