Darlington Spraire Lasses Under-16s beat Consett Badgers Under-16s 1-0 to earn a place in the finals of the Subsidiary Cup on Saturday.

With Consett having punished the Darlington side in a League game just the week before they were expecting an easy victory but with the half time score being 0-0 and with Darlington having the better of the chances they knew they had a game on there hands.

Hard-working front runners Danni Shutt and Kathryn Clarke saw their shots at goal go flying wide of the mark. The deadlock was broken in the second half when midfielder Rebbecca Brabbs put the battling Brogan Prudhoe through and the shot came low and hard to send the ball into the corner of the net.

From the restart Darlington took control again but Consett responded throwing everything into the attack. Defenders Rachael Brabbs and Laura Mather, who had been in excellent form all day, held to their task.

With only minutes to go Jade Parkinson, taking a turn as goalkeeper, kept Darlington in the game by bravely diving at the feet of the Consett striker.

First half goalkeeper Chloe Atkinson came on for the injured Rachael and maintained the Darlington team's high standards.

The last league match of the season saw ideal conditions as Spraire Under-13s hosted Newcastle.

Newcastle started with a weakened squad, but were the first to threaten with a shot that hit the bar in the second minute.

Helen McTague rallied the Spraire defence with a series of good clearances and headers.

Looking extremely comfortable on the ball throughout the match Laura Gowling scored two goals within 15 minutes.

Newcastle responded testing Katie McTague repeatedly, but not successfully. Rachel McKnight scored the third on 17 minutes which Newcastle replied with a goal by Frances Hall. Montana Jowett, Joanna Dinsdale and Sophie Lineton came on to assist in defence and continued to frustrate the Newcastle attack at the same time helping to move the ball upfield, both Joanna and Lauren Claxton had good shots on goal.

The second half started with Newcastle looking more determined, but within ten minutes Jordan Atkinson had added three goals, all well taken shots, the last of which took deflections off the Newcastle goallie and a defender before going in.

Not to be outdone, Laura Gowling ran the length of the pitch to complete her own hat-trick in the 47th minute.

With ten minutes left Lauren Claxton came on as goallie and was immediately called into action several times as Katie McTague enjoyed a spell in midfield.

The final goal of the match was from Laura Spence, who had contributed throughout with some excellent throw ins. Unfortunately, her dad, Dave, who rarely misses a match, was not there to see it.

Hannah Marshall nearly added her name to the scoresheet in the last minutes with a powerful shot that hit the bar to make the final score 8-1. Girl of the match was Laura Gowling in a very good result for Spraire.

* Spraire are looking for the following players for next season: Lads under eight on September 1 2004 (year 2); Lasses seven to 15. Ring Linda and Dave Scott (01325) 253581 for all ages for more details or Dave Stoddart (01325) 257363 for the Lads.