With the visit of George Bush, the fixtures were decimated for two weeks, with only the Fire teams getting into action.

Tyne and Wear were able to secure two wins to make up ground on the leaders. They beat Newcastle 8-2 and Durham Fire 6-2, to clock up six points. Easington also beat Durham Fire 5-0 to maintain their steady improvement. Stockton also recorded another win beating Frankland by three unanswered goals.

This week saw four of the fixtures completed, with two being the Meredith Trophy semi finals. Both ties produced unexpected results, with Stockton beating favourites and holders Tyne & Wear and Frankland winning at Newcastle.

Stockton travelled to the Fire team with a strong side and it paid off. The Fire team were weakened when they lost two players through injury within the first ten minutes. With only one sub, this left them playing the remaining 80 minutes with ten men. Stockton made them pay, with first half goals from Liam Denny, Tony Marron and Chris Green. The Fire team pulled a goal back through Paul Douthwaite in the second half, but Tony Marron wrapped things up with his second of the game. It's been some time since Stockton had a final to compete in and their improvement this season has been marked and ably assisted by secretary Lee Cooke with his hard work.

Frankland have reached the Final the hard way, with away victories at Langbaurgh and Newcastle. The semi final with Newcastle was a very close match and was settled with 15 minutes to go by a goal from debutant Kevin Wilkinson. The Prison team are not the force they once were, but they have battled hard this year and have been rewarded for their efforts.

Durham HQ maintained top spot in the league with a six goal thrashing of Derwentside. Dave Oliver and Steve Rooney scored twice each, with Paul Bruce and Richie Garrett scoring one each.

Langbaurgh moved into second spot, albeit it on goal difference, after beating Sedgefield 5-1 at Aykley Heads. Matt Lymer and Darren Henry scored two goals each, with Tony Wilson getting the other.