Willington Boys: It was a case of history repeating itself as Willington Boys Under-16s clinched the Russell Foster Junior League first division championship with a 6-1 victory away to Nissan in the final game, making sure of the title regardless of how rivals South Shields Wanderers fared in their last fixture.

Seven of the Willington team were in the Willington Boys Under-11 side that won that championship in their first season in the league. Yet the team might not have played at all this season.

"When we were relegated a year ago, there was a danger that the team could have broken up," said team manager Robert Lee, "but the core of the side decided to continue, and we found new players to build up the squad.

"The original under-11 side also won the championship five years ago by winning their last match, again away to Nissan. It's an amazing coincidence," said Lee, who has been in charge throughout.

David Jackson scored four goals in Sunday's win over Nissan, the others coming from captain Lien Howe and Craig O'Brien. Daniel Gibson scored for Nissan, who took the lead midway through the first half and trailed only 2-1 at half time. Man of the match was midfield player Daniel Lee, Robert's son.

The seven original players still with the Willington Under-16s are goalkeeper Mark Bowey, Howe, Lee, Paul Stewart, David Jackson, Carl Boon and Peter Robinson. Bowey and Lee have had time away at trials with a number of professional clubs.

The remainder of the 16-man Willington squad are Chris Hutton, Craig O'Brien, Martin Hopps, Mark Willey, Matthew Walker, Stephen Danby, Michael Absen, Scott Punshon and Gary Brown. Hutton suffered a broken leg last month after scoring four goals earlier in the game.

Darlington Grammar School Young Boys

Itheir second season after forming, Darlington Grammar School Young Boys have finished top of Division Three in the Teesside Junior Football Alliance at Under-16 level. The newly crowned champions are the youth development arm of one Darlington's longest established senior clubs, Grammar School Old Boys. Managers Peter Turnbull and Russell Nattrass started from scratch with the team in August 2001, coaching and training twice a week, with all the team members made up of pupils from Hummersknott School. This season's success comes as a just reward for all the hard work. Club captain Matty Leadbeatter will receive the championship trophy at Tall Trees, Yarm on Wednesday, June 4.

Darlington Albion

On Friday Albion Under-15s were up against only nine men as Northallerton Under-16s were unable to recruit a whole squad, but this didn't stop Northallerton winning the match 5-4.

By half time the Albion looked like winning the match going in 2-0 up with goals from from Mark Hodges and Tommy Langley. The second half saw the Albion slack off far too much and Northallerton started to dominate the game. Northallerton pulled one back to make it 2-1, Hodgie got a second from the corner spot which took a deflection and went in to make it 3-1. After this it was the Town who started playing really well. Five minutes from time Town went 5-3 up. Hodgie completed his hat-trick a few moments later with a superb free kick from just past the halfway line.

Man of the match went to Luke Brown who was absolutely fantastic throughout the whole game. He won every tackle he made and made some brilliant clearances. Final score was 5-4 to Northallerton.

On Sunday Albion were at home to Northallerton with a massive advantage over Town as this time they only had eight men. Once again Albion blew the lead to go away with just a point as the final score was 3-3. Two goals in the first five minutes from Mark Hodges, who now has 16 goals from ten games, saw Albion in the lead due to some good passing from Jake Kirby and Craig Brooker

About 20 minutes later Daniel Bentley made a brilliant run to make it 3-0. Ben Dixon made some good tackles along with Martin Hurst to keep Town from scoring.

In the second half it was mainly Town with the chances, although Hodges hit the cross bar as did Liam Brown, and as Albion relaxed they allowed Town to draw level by the final ten minutes. Town nearly won the game in the last few minutes as their striker had a clear opportunity to score with only Jason in goal to beat, but he hit the post and the ball went for a goal kick. Man of the match went to Craig Brooker for some good passing and some good heading and challenges. Final score was 3-3.