Killinghall pile the pressure on All Stars

With the championship race over in Division One, and all over bar the shouting in Division Three, attention turns to Division Two as Killinghall Arms are looking to over-turn All Stars season-long stint at the top of the pile.

With two victories in the last week, Killinghall now look to be strong favourites to take the second division championship, as they move level on points at the top of the table with still two games in hand. On Thursday the Killy struggled past second-bottom Grey Horse, only managing a 2-0 victory, but Sunday's 7-1 mauling of Green Dragon was a more true picture of how the Killy have performed this season, as they remain the only second division team to be unbeaten in the league.

The situation at the bottom of Division Two is also very tight, with the bottom five teams all scrambling for survival and trying desperately to avoid the two relegation places. In a surprise result, bottom of the table Sadberge picked up only their second victory of the season on Thursday as Mike Hillary notched the only goal against third-placed AFC Orange.

However, Sadberge soon reverted to form as they fell 5-0 to Bishop Auckland Derby on Sunday as the Derby continued their push towards a promotion place. Of the other struggling sides, Grey Horse have probably had the worst week, as they are now second bottom, following a 10-0 thrashing by AFC Orange on Sunday. Mike Finn notched four of the Orange goals, whilst Kevin Kokes (2), Adrian French, Andy Waclawek, Thompson and Albarq also got their names on the scoresheet.

Elsewhere, Canney Hill were defeated 2-1 by Copper Beech DCS on Thursday night as they stay just three points abover the drop zone, whilst Green Dragon's 2-2 draw with Royal British Legion did neither side any favours as both are still in danger of the drop - albeit with the safety of being four and seven points clear respectively.

In the remaining games, Copper Beech DCS followed Thursday's victory with another 2-1 victory on Sunday, this time over a Jack Horner's side that have now slipped to seventh following DCS's upturn in form.

In Division One, none of the top four sides were in league action this weekend as the remainder of the league played catch-up. It was Hurworth that took full advantage of the situation, as they defeated Spraire RA 3-1 on Thursday night, before they picked up a 3-2 victory over struggling Brinkburn at the weekend. Darren Tate, Neil Bell and Simon Middlemiss were the Hurworth scorers on Sunday, whilst Stuart Alderson and Anth Thorns notched for The Brinkburn.

It was to be a bad weekend for The Brinkburn though, as Central Club picked up an astonishing 4-2 victory over Shuttle & Loom in their final league game of the season to leave themselves six points ahead of a Brinkburn side who only have three games in which to make up the deficit. Stuart Cottam gave Central an early lead after he robbed the Shuttle right-back before firing the ball past the despairing 'keeper. Man-of-the-match Paul O'Hagan then set-up Central's second as he won the ball in midfield before dancing past two challenges and threading a delightful ball into the path of Tony Stafford, who coolly slotted the ball under the advancing 'keeper. However, despite Central's fine play, the Shuttle fought back and were level by half time, albeit with the help of a penalty kick and a breakaway strike.

Under normal circumstances Central may have folded, but due to the importance of the game they gave it their all and were rewarded as Stuart Cottam notched his second of the game as he curled the ball into the top corner after dispossessing another Shuttle defender. In a fitting finale, Central then made the points safe as player-manager Roy Winter notched their fourth and final goal with a precise lob from all of 40 yards as Central may have just done enough to save their first division bacon.

With Central picking up maximum points, the pressure is now on Bishop Auckland Cricket Club, as they are now only three points above the relegation zone with one game left to play following their 2-1 defeat against Spraire RA on Sunday. That result means that the Brinkburn's best hope of survival rides on them making up the three points in their two games in hand, as they have a vastly superior goal difference to the boys from Bishop.

In Division Three, Peppers Draughting Services maintained their march toward winning the third division championship with a maximum 90 points with a 4-1 victory over fellow promotion hopefuls Middleton St George Cricket Club on Thursday followed by a 4-0 victory over AXA Insurance on Sunday, thanks to a brace apiece for Graham Pepper and Michael Carter.

AXA put on a resolute display and did well to restrict their opponents to two goals until the final five minutes when Peppers doubled their lead.

Meanwhile, Hope Inn are in the box seat for finishing in second place as they beat Drinkfield United 5-3 on Thursday, whilst rivals FR Aviation succumbed to a 3-2 defeat against mid-table Emcor. Sunday then saw the clash of second and third place, with Hope Inn once more taking the points with a hard fought 3-1 victory over FR Aviation. Man-of-the-match Trenton Hewitt ran the visitors defence ragged with his pace and workrate, allowing Stu Hardy (2) and Adam Wilson to notch the goals to give the Hope a 3-0 lead. The Aviator's eventually managed to get a goal back through Alan Percival, but it was too little too late, as the Hope hung on to take the three points which sees them go six points clear in second with a game in hand FR Aviation are in danger of now missing out on a top three spot as Middleton St George Cricket Club's mid-week 8-0 victory over Newton Cap leaves them seventeen points behind the Aviators with five games in hand, although the Aviators are in no danger of missing out on promotion, with them guaranteed to finish in the top five.

Fifth placed Pizza Perfekt are one of the few teams to have only played one game this week, but they picked up all three points against a Royal Oak side that beat Cricketers 1-0 in midweek. The Pizzaboyz struggled against the Oak though, as Neil Jollie headed the Oak into an early first half lead before they were reduced to ten men following the dismissal of Lee Stainsby for a stray elbow within the opening ten minutes. The Pizzaboyz soon got back level as they broke the Oak offside trap, but the ten-men once more regained the lead as Simon York nodded home a Neil Pinkey corner from close range. Goals either side of half-time eventually put the Pizzaboyz in the lead for the first time in the game, and their lead was extended mid-way through the half as they took a 4-2 lead over the tiring ten men. Matt Snowdon did manage a late goal to make the score 4-3, but as much as the Oak pushed for an equaliser, the Pizzaboyz held on to maintain three points clear of Drinkfield United in the last promotion spot.

Drinkfield, meanwhile, bounced back from their midweek defeat against Hope Inn with a 2-1 victory over Sherwoods, who were riding high on the back of a 4-0 victory over AFC Aruba on Thursday night. Davey Cooper gave Drinkfield a 1-0 lead in the first half, before Wayne Wrightson made the score 2-0 with a wonder goal as he ran 50 yards with the ball before slotting the ball past the on-rushing Sherwoods 'keeper. However, Gary Barker pulled one back for Sherwoods to set up a frantic final fifteen minutes, but Drinkfield managed to hold on for all three points to keep alive their promotion challenge.

Elsewhere, Aruba picked up all three points on Sunday against Cricketers as they won 5-1 thanks to goals from Dale Sanderson, Dave Holt, Steve Murphy, Steve Odle and an own goal. Kev Howlett notched Cricketers goal, but it wasn't enough as they slipped below Aruba into fourteenth place. In the only other games of the week, Haughton beat Falchion 2-0 on Thursday night but their game against Emcor was abandoned on Sunday with Emcor 1-0 up.

Darlington Church and Friendly League

After two tough semi-finals Darlington RA Youth and Stillington The Royal will meet on Tuesday, May 13 at the RA Ground Brinkburn Road, Darlington in the final of the Archbold Trophy.

The Royal got the better of Aycliffe Saints 3-1, Paul Cleary and Simon Hares put Royal two up with Ben Hall reducing the arrears from the spot. The second half was very even with Cleary clinching the tie.

In the first half neither keeper had a great deal to do and the only goal seperating RA Youth and Chilton Wheatsheaf Wanderers was scored by RA's Ross Wetherell. Youth upped the pace in the second and further goals came from Dean Lawson, Carl Moss and Craig Adamson. Wheatsheaf's reply was a penalty converted by John Daniels, Gary Shaw in the Wheatsheaf goal must be credited with some excellent saves.

In the league, Darlington The Mowden and Hurworth Otter & Fish ended in Mowden's favour 3-2. The goalscoring was a bizarre affair with three of the five goals being own goals, for Mowden Yestin (Stan) Evans and two OG. and for Otter James Edwards plus one OG.

Darlington Travellers Rest could only muster nine players against Darlington Skerne Park (who themselves only just managed to scrape up 11) but still picked up all three points, Max Ripley and Matty Cole both hit a brace whilst Craig Wright scored a consolation.

Two mid-week games took place; The Royal won 6-1 against Travellers Rest and Otter & Fish won 4-1 against Hoppers Transport.