Three junior squash players have astounded coaches, fellow players and themselves with a fantastic performance in the Durham and Cleveland Squash League.

Teenagers Lee Skinner, 14, Graham Johnson, 13, and Joe McTague, 15, have played a major part in Aycliffe 4's title win in Division Six, despite only being thrown into the fray in order to gain some experience.

Last September the Aycliffe club decided to enter a fourth team to the league to give the three juniors some experience of playing regular competitive matches.

Bill West, who coaches the threesome, explained: "There was to be no pressure put on the youngsters to win, however, once the season was under way, it was obvious they'd decided they weren't there simply to make up the numbers.

"They were determined to get results and show that even though they were young, it was not going to stop them holding their own against much older and more experienced opposition."

The average age of the opposing teams varied with some teams consisting of 20-25 year-olds, while others featured players aged 40 and over.

West said that finishing the season in first position at the first attempt had never really been considered a possibility.

Team captain Grahame Thomas had originally considered rotating the youngsters between matches, but their performances and results became so consistently positive that he decided to play at least two of them every match.

Aycliffe 4 finished with 176 points, four ahead of second-placed Mill House 1 of Hartlepool.

Playing alongside more experienced seniors in West, Paul Dowson, Kevin Martin and Steve Waine, the trio also reached the semi-finals of the Principia Durham and Cleveland League Cup, where they were unlucky to lose 3-2 to Sedgefield 2, having not been able to field their regular side.

Having begun to make a reputation within the Aycliffe club, Lee and Graham were also invited to play some matches for the Aycliffe second and third teams, winning most of these encounters.

Skinner, Johnson, and McTague are members of the junior squash club, training twice a week at the Newton Aycliffe Oak Leaf Sports Complex while they have also being playing for Durham and Cleveland County Under-15s team.

At the Durham and Cleveland Squash Rackets Association's presentation evening last night, Skinner was given the Division Six player of the year award.