ALMOST 7,000 people turned out to watch a North-East football club's first match inside its completed stadium.

Darlington FC celebrated the opening of the north stand of the Williamson Motors Stadium with a family day - allowing school-age children in for free.

Although the attendance was not a stadium record, the club did manage to break an entirely different world record.

Just before the kick-off against Kidderminster Harriers on Saturday, 122 mascots aged from babes-in-arms to teenagers paraded on the pitch in Darlington kits.

A crowd of 6,972 attended the game - 2,468 of them in the north stand.

The day included the chance for the school which brought the most spectators, in proportion to the school roll, to have the new north stand named after it until the end of this season.

A second prize sees the school with the highest overall number of people attending get to use the football stadium for one of its school matches.

The winners of the competitions will be announced this week.

Carmel RC Technology College won a banner competition at half-time, with the prize of a trip to the Magic Kingdom of Camelot theme park for a coach full of school- children.

The day was slightly marred by a minor scuffle in the north stand, which saw six youngsters ejected from the ground.

A day of activities, included dancers from Stagecoach, a performance by pop band Freefaller, Pure Drummers from Skerne Park and the procession of mascots.

Stewart Davies, chairman of Darlington FC, said: "The turnout for the game was excellent, thanks to the effort made by the schools, as well as the rest of our fans who turned out in force.

"It is a real milestone to have this ground fully open.

"We look forward to welcoming many of those who had never been to see live football in Darlington, prior to this game, back to the Williamson Motors Stadium in the future."