BISHOP Auckland, of the Unibond League first division, have signed Northern Ireland under-19 international Carl Heiniger on his return to the region from Germany, where he had been playing for KSV Hessenkassel in one of German football's lower divisions.

A former Manchester United schoolboy and Newcastle United trainee, Heiniger hit the headlines last season when as a member of the University side Team Bath he scored a scorching 25 yarder in the student side's televised 4-2 FA Cup defeat against Mansfield Town.

He subsequently appeared on the BBC TV programme They Think its all Over.