As the football season approaches its final straight and team honours edge ever closer, so to do players' individual awards.

With Newcastle and Hartlepool doing the utmost to bring a brace of titles to the North-East, their players lead the way in the chase for The Northern Echo Player of the Year award.

Predictably, Pool's solid defensive partnership of Graeme Lee and Chris Westwood are in first and second positions with the former edging ahead by an average match rating of just 0.006.

The pair have played alongside each other for the last four seasons, including a total of 59 League games between them this term, and their almost identical high ratings confirms that their understanding forms a vital building block in Pool's push for the Division Three title.

Incidentally, teammate, Tommy Widdrington makes it into the top ten at number eight with an average of 6.85, despite missing the beginning of the season through injury.

At this stage of the season players must feature in at least ten games to qualify for our table, which rule out striker, Gordon Watson, who is denied sitting top of our ratings after breaking his leg last September, which has restricted him to just eight appearances.

Chasing Lee and Westwood is Newcastle's leading scorer, Alan Shearer.

The England legend is enjoying yet another successful season as Newcastle sit third in the Premiership with Shearer having played a huge part in United' rise up the table after notching 14 goals so far.

His displays are mirrored in The Northern Echo's ratings after clocking up an average of 7.04 from 24 League games, earning an eight out of ten on over a third of those occasions.

Middlesbrough's top performer, perhaps unsurprisingly, is Gareth Southgate.

The England international is just 0.002 behind former international teammate, Shearer, but despite Boro's recent rocky patch, Boro's captain is one of a trio representing the Riverside outfit in our top ten with Geremi and Mark Schwarzer also competing for individual honours.

Darlington's sole representative is Neil Maddison.

Mick Tait has not favoured the experienced midfielder in recent months and the former Boro man looks set for a summer move, despite squeezing between Southgate and Schwarzer as one of the region's top performers this season.

Maddison's Darlington replacement, Clark Keltie, was top of the rankings two months ago after a string of eye-catching displays after first breaking into the team.

But the Newcastle-born youngster has slipped dramatically and is now just outside of the top ten in 11th.

Finally, plummeting Sunderland's Jurgen Macho scrapes in at number ten.

Considering their form this season it's perhaps surprising to see any of their number amongst the elite, although it should be mentioned the Austrian has merited a six out of ten in a third of his 12 games, and was even awarded a four on one occasion.