CHESTER-LE-STREET TOWN youth's have been awarded for last season's efforts in the FA Youth Cup by being seeded alongside Nationwide Football League clubs for this season's adventure.

The club will not be involved in the preliminary competition or the usual three qualifying stages and will go straight in to the competition proper alongside local League sides like Hartlepool United and Darlington.

Re-organisation has also taken place off the field with the appointment of a new Youth Team Manager to replace Andrew Muxworthy who has been in the role for nine years. John Tweedie, a UEFA B Licence holder and former Manchester United Centre of Excellence coach takes over from Muxworthy who will still stay involved with the youth team in the role of Youth Development Officer. The youth team backroom staff of Keith Rome (physio) and Fred Adamson (Secretary) remains unchanged.

Fisburn Boys

North Carolina, USA, had a team come and go head to head with a side from Fishburn. The Americans arrived on a short tour and played three matches. One in the south, one with Fishburn Under 15s and and another in Scotland. The match was followed by a get together of the teams, parents and officials. Both sides gave mementos to each other of the visit - and the match was played in the true spirit of the game Fishburn winning 2-1 which included a high level of skill with both sides playing to a very high level of ability with excellent perfomances from Matthew Gibson, Lee Cooksey, Simon Taylor, Jonathon Bull and Ben Smith.

While for the Americans Tac Johnston and Koontz proved very useful players. Goodwill was forged and it is hoped that a return match can be arranged for next year.

Norton and Stockton Ancients

Norton and Stockton Ancients under 12 girls continued their recent success by winning the 3rd annual Durham Police football tournament at Aykley heads Police HQ grounds on Saturday, this follows the of player of the year award to Olivia Inman from the Tyne Tees girls league last week. Many of the teams were from Academies,and team manager Mick Mulligan paid tribute to the whole squad who worked extremely hard at this prestigous event, they now focus on their own Norton tournament on Sunday 18th July, commencing 10am at Station Road when they aim to retain last year's title.

Spraire Lads

The Under 10s entered two teams in their own tournament - Hawks and Kestrels. The Kestrels started off with a 1-0 win against Stockton West End and Sam Liddle scored the only goal.

They followed this up with a 1-1 draw against Leven with debutant Danny Longstaff scoring on the other pitch Hawks started off with a convincing 3-0 win against Middleton Rangers with Wilson Kneeshaw getting one and Kerry Hedley bagging a brace they carried on scoring in the next game with a 4-0 win with Ryan Allinson, Kneeshaw and two more for Hedley.

Meanwhile, the Kestrels carried on the scoring with a 2-0 win against Richmond with Sam Liddle and Longstaff scoring. Their final game was a 0-0 draw against Swallwell which meant they topped their group. Hawks needed to win to top the group against Eldon but lost 1-0 which meant they finished second and had to play the Kestrels in the quaters.

This game was a close affair with William Newcombe playing well in goal for Kestrels and Ben Tervit playing well for Hawks. The game was settled in the second half when the impressive Longstaff broke to score the only goal.

They then faced a good Riverside team in the semis and again one goal was enough with Longstaff netting. They met a strong Eldon team in the final. Eldon took the lead but Spraire pushed on and forced the Eldon goalie into some fine saves. The second half Spraire continued to push on but late in the game Eldon broke to score their second and win 2-0.

Darlington Spraire Lasses

Darlington Spraire Lasses Under 13s ended the afternoon runners up for the second consecutive year following a 2-0 defeat to local rivals Stockton West End at the Spraire annual six a side competition in Darlington. Spraire full of confidence following two league wins over West End lost their opening game of the afternoon to Stockton 2-1 with Stockton scoring in the first 30 seconds. Spraire replied with an equalizer from Laura Gowling just before half time but conceded a second just after the break. Spraire needing to win their next two games to reach the semi final triumphed 2-0 in both matches. With the rain pouring down Spraire met Lumley in the semi final, Rachel McKnight opened the scoring with a fine goal following excellent play from Jordan Atkinson, Lumley equalised and could have taken the lead but were denied the opportunity by goal line clearances from Laura Spence and Helen McTague. Spraire marched on to the final with two more goals from Laura Gowling wining 3-1. Spraire met Stockton again in the final but fell to another early goal in the opening minutes, Stockton could have had more but for the outstanding goalkeeping of Spraires Katie McTague. Stockton wrapped up the final in the second half with another fine goal from their number seven.

Spraire Lads Tournament

Last weekend just under 1,000 young footballers between the ages of six and 15 took part in the Darlington Spraire Lads Annual six-a-side Tournament, which took place at the Queen Elixabeth Sixth Form College's playing fields on Abbey Road, Darlington.

Boys and girls teams came from as far away as Carlisle, Manchester and Sheffield and at the same all of the local junior football clubs were well represented. The players were well supported by some very enthusiastic parents who couldn't fail to be entertained by some excellent football played in a friendly atmosphere. Unfortunately, spectators had to endure some torrential rain on the Sunday afternoon, but this didn't seem to dampen the spirits of the players, who were quite happy to battle on regardless. On the Saturday, Darlington Football Clubs Captain, Neil Maddison was on hand to present some of the trophies, whilst on the Sunday, Alpha 103.2 FM's Mike Patterson, was present to do the honours.

Award winners

U7 John Toulson (Teesdale) Trophy Winners: Seaton Carew; Runners-up: Billingham Town U8 Tyne Tees Demolition Trophy Winners: Plains Farm; Runners-up: Mount Pleasant 'A'

U9 Powerscreen Trophy Winners: Ashton United; Runners-up: Norton & Stockton Ancients U10 Construction Plant (Suppliers) Trophy Winners: Eldon Lions; Runners-up: Spraire Kestrels U11 Bruce Cook Road Planing Trophy Winners: 21st All Stars; Runners-up: Marton 'A' U12 Banner Contracting Trophy Winners: Marton 'B'; Runners-up: Mount Pleasant 'A' U13 Noble Self-Drive Trophy Winners: Albion Boys; Runners-up: 21st All Stars 'B' U14 Barnard Castle Steam Fair Trophy Winners: Cleveland Juniors 'B'; Runners-up: Leven Athletic U15 Lance Robson Memorial Trophy Winners: Richmond Town; Runners-up: Norton & Stockton Ancients U10 Girls Lance Weller Trophy Winners: Sheffield Wednesday; Runners-up: Coulby Newham Crystals U13 Girls Almit Trophy Winners: Stockton West End; Runners-up: Spraire Hawks.

* For more pictures from the tournament see Page 7.

Cleveland Juniors U14

Oa very wet day Cleveland Juniors Under 14s won the Spraire Lads tournament.

Juniors entered two teams in this age group with both teams hitting top form to win both leagues without losing a single game. Both teams were drawn against each other in the semi-final. The game went end to end and with seconds to go Nathan Tidy scored for the B Team to clinch a cup-final tie with Leven Football Club. Leven battled all the way to the final whistle. But Cleveland ran out 3-0 winners with Juniors' No.9 Christon Potter's fine hat-trick. Cleveland midfielder Sonny Playforth broke his arm after only one minute.