Whitley Bay striker Yosuke Suzuki could make history by becoming one of the first Japanese players to appear in a national competition final next week.

Suzuki is studying at Newcastle University, and will be part of the Whitley Bay party which takes on Tiptree at Villa Park in the final of the FA Carlsberg Vase next Saturday.

Whether he starts the game or not remains in the hands of manager Andy Gowens, but he's already shown that he can score goals at Northern League level, scoring last week against Peterlee.

"He's over here for a year, learning English," said Gowens.

"He's a strong lad, and isn't easy to knock off the ball. He's got a good touch in front of goal, but sometimes we have a language problem."

Whitley will go to Birmingham the day before the game, but their supporters look as if they're going to be heavily outnumbered.

Earlier in the week, Whitley had only sold 800 tickets, which suggests a poor turnout compared to the thousands of fans who have followed previous Northern League teams Tow law, Bedlington and Whitby to previous Vase finals.

Whitley will have the use of Newcastle United's first team bus, while they will be training at the Stadium of Light on Sunday morning.

"It's a great gesture by both managers," said Gowens.

"It should be a good experience training at Sunderland. The lads will need to get used to a big stadium and the surface we expect to play on at Villa Park."

Durham City are hoping to win their first ever cup competition when they face Shildon in the final of the Northern League Cup on Monday afternoon.

Even though they have been members of the League for well over half a century, they have never won any silverware.

Manager Brian Honour said; "I couldn't believe it when our chairman Stewart Dawson, told me.

"I hope our luck changes on Monday, because we haven't been carrying much lately.

"We've been doing well in recent games, but have been caught on the break or picked up injuries.

"Maybe we've been a little bit down since we went out of the Vase, but it will be my job to make sure that everybody is in the right frame of mind for the game."

Shildon are bidding for the second leg of a possible treble.

They clinched the first part last week by clinching promotion, but now they have Durham in their sights.

Shildon have already put Tow law and Jarrow Roofing out of the competition, and manager Peter Feenan said: "we've played some good football against First Division teams this season, and shown that we can match them.

"Playing on Durham's pitch should suit our style of football."

Shildon suggested that the game should be played at New Ferens park, a move which didn't go down too well with some of their supporters, who felt that they would have a better chance on a neutral venue.

Three days after the League Cup final, Shildon will tackle Prudhoe in the Craven Cup final at Esh Winning. Prudhoe beat Shildon 5-4 in the league just before Christmas, and the return game ended in a goalless draw.

There were celebrations in Esh Winning on Tuesday night when it was confirmed that they were promoted to the First Division.

Esh thought their chance had gone last Saturday when they drew 1-1 with Shildon after leading with just five minutes left, and fellow challengers Prudhoe and Penrith had what appeared to be easy matches on paper, with Prudhoe travelling to Shotton, and Penrith a home game with South Shields.

But surprisingly, less than ten days after beating Esh, Penrith lost 1-0 at home to Shields, their third league defeat in five days. Managerless Shields only had the bare eleven, and didn't have a recognised keeper

Prudhoe, meanwhile, made no mistake thrashing Shotton 6-1.

Probably the most relieved man was full back Jamie Howe, who put through his own goal last Saturday to give Shildon the title, and at that point, it looked as if Esh would be denied their first ever promotion in 19 years of Northern League membership.

Esh manager Barry Fleming has asked his team to turn up for the game next Thursday night, so all three promoted teams will be present on the night.

Tow Law were presented with their runners up trophy last night before their home game with Brandon.

Tow Law manager Graeme Forster said: "Possibly the difference between us and Bedlington was when we played them with just a squad of 12 earlier in the season, and they beat us."

West Auckland gave a debut last Saturday to midfielder Martin Houlahan, who has been released by Sheffield Wednesday.

Peterlee Newtown are considering renaming themselves as simply Peterlee from the start of next season. The club has had Newtown in their name since it was formed, but their logic now is that the town of Peterlee itself is no longer regarded as new town.