|Kirbymoorside set up final tie

SMITH and Allan will be the opponents for DSRM All Stars in the 2007 First Division Cup final as they edged a tight match at the RA ground against an in-form Spraire.

Smith and Allan had the better of the early exchanges and took the lead halfway through the first half with a Mark Armstrong goal.

However the second period saw Spraire dominate for long periods but a mixture of excellent defending and some poor finishing meant Armstrong's goal was all that separated the teams after 90 minutes.

Division One

HURWORTH Albion took on the struggling Turks Head who played the entire 90 minutes with only ten men. Their man advantage meant Hurworth had the vast majority of possession and were rarely troubled by the Turks attack.

Hurworth sprang the offside trap on numerous occasions in the first half and a Wayne King hat-trick, two from Chris Bellwood and a Stuart Hardy strike saw them reach the interval 6-0 up.

The second half period was a different story as Turks fought to restore their pride and, although David Coates was called on to make several great saves, their commitment and battling spirit were commended by all watching.

Hurworth finally added to their total with a penalty from Bellwood enabling him to complete his hat-trick and make the final score 7-0.

In a nine-goal thriller between Haughton WMC and East End WMC, it was East End, who included veteran Kev Jackson in their line-up, that triumphed by the odd goal.

Their hat-trick hero was Mark Stephenson while Darren Winter added the other two. Haughton s goals in the 5-4 defeat came from Jamie Irving, Danny McLaughlin, Stuart Goodwin and Christian Holliday.

Stadia welcomed visitors DSRM All Stars and became the latest to find themselves on the end of a Darren Kokes hat-trick. Kokes' triple together with goals from John Clegg and Dale Sheridan proved too much for Stadia whose consolation goals in a 5-2 defeat came from Andrew Edgeworthy and Richard Bestford.

The only other game in the division saw Grey Horse beat Haughton 10-1.

Division Two

THE race for the title was thrown wide open again as the Shuttle and Loom suffered a shock 3-2 defeat in their away day visit to Newton Aycliffe to play the Royal British Legion.

Kicking against the wind in the first half it was the Legion who took the lead through Martin Scott, whose free-kick from the edge of the box found its way past Darren Skippen in the Shuttle goal.

However Chris Airey equalised after a lapse of concentration in the Legion defence, a lapse that was compounded by a Jon Travis own goal that gave the Shuttle a 2-1 half-time lead.

With the wind at their backs a Scott penalty tied matters up before he completed his hat-trick with a chip over the advancing keeper to make the final score 3-2 to the home side.

The Highland Laddie took advantage of the Shuttle's slip by beating bottom side Red Lion 5-0, although the game was not as one sided as the score line might suggest. It was Jon Roote who broke the deadlock by calmly slotting home after 30 minutes and the Laddie doubled their lead before half time through Dean Scott.

Although the Red Lion matched their opponents for long spells, it was the Laddie who doubled their lead with second goals for both Scott and Roote, who saw a hat-trick chance go begging when he crashed a penalty back off the bar.

It was left to Dave Vayro to complete the scoring late on and take the Laddie to within a point of the Shuttle at the top of the division.

Tanners Hall entertained Killinghall Arms and with the wind in their favour it was Killinghall who took a two-goal lead.

Tanners managed to keep in touch when Chris Jackson slammed the ball home to cut the deficit by half.

Tanners tied up the game with a Dan Eeles penalty and it was Eeles who gave them their first lead of the match with a 25 yarder.

Chris Reeve then extended the Tanners lead only for Killinghall to fight back to 4-3.

However it was Reeves who had the last word to give Tanners a 5-3 victory that could prove vital at the end of the season.

The Killinghall goals were scored by Andrew Jinks, Simon Ashton and Danny Ferens.

The final game saw that most unusual of results in local league football as Hole in the Wall and BSC fought out a 0-0 draw

Division Three

THE place to be for incident and fire last Sunday morning was at Hundens in the game between New All Stars and promotion hopefuls the Bengal Tigers.

The All Stars dominated the first 45 minutes and found themselves 4-0 to the good with a James Brannan hat-trick and an Adam Sams strike responsible.

Although the second half saw the Tigers strike twice through Washim Bari and Amzad Hussein, it was the All Stars who fittingly saved the best till last when a superb left wing cross was met by Ste Cheeseman whose diving header flew past Asadur Rahman in the Tigers goal to make the final score 5-2 to the All Stars.

An equally incident packed game between Longfield and The Northern Echo, saw Echo players score three times in the first half albeit into their own net, the pick being a 35 yarder from Graham Bartlett.

The second half saw Longfield rely on their players to find the net as a Dave Raine hat-trick, a fine strike from Lee Hammond and a Chris Wardell goal made the final score 8-0.

The game between Sherwoods and the Wheatsheaf was another that saw own goals as the Wheatsheaf found themselves 2-0 up after ten minutes without having to score themselves.

The lead went to 3-0 when Stuart Armstrong headed in at the far post and they increased this lead to 5-0 with a Michael Ward strike and a second for Armstrong. To their credit, Sherwoods never gave up and reduced their deficit with late goals from Anth Aslett and Jon Coker.

In a tight game at Branksome a second half header from DfES's Stuart Bell proved to be the difference between the home side and the visiting Affinity Healthcare, for whom Alex Hines' free-kick,which hit the post ,was the closest they came to scoring.

Division One Cup semi final: Spraire RA 0 Smith & Allan 1

Division One: Hurworth Albion 7 Turks Head 0; Haughton Wmc 4 East End Wmc 5; Stadia 2 Dsrm All Stars 5; Haughton 1 Grey Horse 10.