A spirited second half fightback earned Coxhoe Under-15s victory when they took on Chester-le-Street Waldridge Park at Spennymoor United's Brewery Field on Wednesday.

During the first half Coxhoe were as poor as they have been for a long time and despite goalkeeper Tom Orton pulling off a great save from a powerful Chester-le-Street shot, from which the visitors were pounced on the rebound, went 2-0 down.

Coxhoe, however, kept the score down and managed to creep back into the game and shortly before the break grabbed a crucial goal to halve the deficit to go into the half-time break 2-1 behind.

Playing for the Coxhoe Invitation Cup which the team had won in all nine of their previous encounters at the Brewery Field, Coxhoe were determined to hang on to the silverware and began the second half in better shape.

Waldridge Park, now kicking up the slope, were forced back and it seemed only a matter of time before Coxhoe levelled the score.

At 2-2 Coxhoe looked good for a winner and it duly arrived from the boot of Liam Short who put the ball in the back of the net to make it an perfect Invitation Cup success for Bobby Orton's side.

Afterwards Coxhoe manager Bobby Orton admitted the "best team hadn't won" but despite not being at their best the home team were able to clinch the win after showing plenty of determination and a will to win.

Short scored one of Coxhoe's other goals and John Dodd got the other while Tom Orton had another excellent game in goal, making some crucial saves.

This Sunday the team are away to Horden, 1pm kick-off but before that the lads are on back-packing duty in Asda this evening.

l Thanks go to Bennie Mottram and Tony Lee for their assistance in allowing Coxhoe to stage the game at Spennymoor's ground.

The Under-11s continued their good form with a 4-1 win over Chester-le-Street Vikings at the weekend.

Goals from Owen Smith, Mark Owens, Ryan Burton and Daniel Dodsworth completed the win that puts Coxhoe third in the table.

A special mention goes to Jake Milburn who scored in the previous week but his name was mistakenly omitted from the match report.