Loftus Athletic gained victory in the Eileen Hodgson Bowl final with a 3-2 victory over Lealholm on Monday morning at the traditional Boosbeck venue.

Loftus took the lead when John Barnard's precise header found Matthew Griffin who calmly played the ball over Gibson into the back of Loftus again dominated at the start of the second-half and Jason Couse and Scott Severs were denied by Gibson before Severs thumped a loose ball against the bar.

Midway through the half Lealholm finally got back into the game when an Andrew Raw and Phil Brown interchange of passes was rewarded with Raw firing home at the far post after goalkeeper Chris Barritt failed to deal with Brown's final ball across the face of goal.

A minute Loftus restored their two-goal advantage when Martin Carruthers was adjudged to have fouled Barnard and Ian Dixon stepped forward to fire the ball home.

Lealholm struggled to get into threatening positions and when Simon Shipton unleashed a 20-yard shot Barritt went full length to push the ball wide.

Lealholm narrowed the gap with ten minutes left when Whitwell again raced clear and this time managed to slide the ball past Barritt from the edge of the area.

Loftus did not sit back and nearly scored again in the final minute when a Barnard run just failed to create a clear shooting chance for any of his supporting team mates.

All in all Loftus deserved their victory in a clash of two ex-Eskvale League sides.

In the comeback of the season, Hinderwell collected their second point with a home 4-4 draw against Highland Laddie.

Mark Paisley (2), Danny Kraus and Andy Hopwood put Laddie firmly in control.

Hinderwell had a chance to reduce the arrears from the penalty spot but Khahil Khajawa scorned the opportunity.

Gary Sivills showed his leadership qualities when a second penalty was awarded and stepped forward to drive the ball home.

Khajawa made up for his earlier miss with a well-taken goal and then with Hinderwell in full flow Rob Davison netted and not to be denied a share of the spoils finally got their reward when Roger Robinson netted to claim Hinderwell's second point of a tough season.

Durham Alliance

Hartlepool BW went second in the table with a 4-2 home win over Whitehill who were 1-0 up inside ten seconds with a goal from Paul Harrison but Boys Welfare equalised on the half hour, Geoff Cooper the scorer.

On 40 minutes Dave Bell made it 2-1 to Boys Welfare and just after the break they went 3-1 up with a goal from Simon Hall. Carl Marshal pulled one back but Cooper struck from the spot to finish the scoring. Whitehill had the chance to pull another goal back but Michael McAdam missed a penalty.

Seaham The Duke lost their chance to go second by losing 2-0 at home to Durham Victoria Bridge. The teams were evenly matched in the first half with the score 0-0. Victoria Bridge had more of the play in the second half with Darren Burnham scoring both goals.

Birtley Town Reserves finished the season on a happy note, beating Belford House 1-0 at home, the goal scored by Gary Dryden. Washington Westwood had a 5-1win over Ebchester with goals from Jason Fox, Chris Lindstead (penalty), Paul Watson, Dave Watkins, and Chris Hannah. Chris Parkin replied for Ebchester.

Wednesday's results: Durham Victoria Bridge 2 (Darren Burnham, Lee Pratt), Belford House 0; Washington Westwood 1 (Jason Fox), Hartlepool Boys Welfare 0.