Bishop Auckland St. Mary's: The Under-14 junior side showed they are in top form as the climax to the season approaches with three victories last week. After winning 6-0 away to Brompton JFC in the quarter finals of the Teesside Junior Alliance League Cup, Bishops won 9-0 at home to Darlington 21 All Stars and 3-2 away to Marton Hall Drive in the league.

Daniel Watson (2), Ryan Nicholson (2), Darren Richardson and Lawrence Oliver scored to put Bishops into the semi finals of the league cup and a home tie with Richmond Town on April 30.

Playing their best football of the season, Bishops sank Darlington with an excellent all-round team display. The goals flowed from Oliver (4), Michael Slater (3), Watson and Richardson.

Away to Marton in another league game, Bishops led 2-1 at the interval with goals from Oliver and Slater, but were pegged back to 2-2 before Oliver got a well-deserved winner.

Newton Aycliffe Youth

After the Cup exploits of the previous week, the Under-11s came down to earth with a slight bump. Coulby Newham were the opponents, and after beating them away earlier in the season, and after the towns' recent results, a win was expected.

But the lads started slowly and were under increasing pressure from the start, Michael Alderson had to pull off two very good saves to keep the scores even.

Ten minutes into the game Paul Blackbourn captain and man of the match scored a wonder goal against play. His clearance-come-shot eluded everyone including an embarrassed keeper as it bounced three times before resting in the back of the net.

Ten minutes later a laps by the Aycliffe defence saw Coulby equalise. The second half was much the same as the first, both teams having chances to take the game but neither team could breakdown two strong defences.

Auckland and District EBAC Youth League

Bishop Auckland Under-18s gained a comfortable 5-0 victory away to Coundon & Leeholme with goals from Lee Atkinson, Mark Bischuck (2), Gary Whittaker and man of the match Dale Dunn.

Spennymoor Boys

The Under-13s continued their fine cup run, to reach the final of the Ray Foster Cup. Once again, the lads did it the hard way, by coming from behind as they had done in all the previous rounds of the cup.

The semi-final opposition, Felling Magpies took an early lead and continued to dominate the early exchanges.

However, Spennymoor got their act together and equalised when Jason White converted a goal-mouth scramble from a corner. In the second half, Spennymoor took the lead, when Ross Molloy outpaced the defence and tucked the ball neatly past the goalkeeper.

Ten minutes from time, Felling equalised, following a defensive mistake. As the game went into extra time, chances fell for both sides. With a penalty shoot-out looming, Spennymoor scored just five minutes from the end of the second period of extra time, from a Jason White header. An excellent performance earned Richard McCreaddie man of the match.

Willington Boys

The Under-16s defeated Washington Envelopes 3-1 to go three points clear in second place in the Russell Foster Junior League first division with goals from Daniel Lee, Chris Hutton and Steven Danby. Michael Ashcroft was man of the match. Washington gave Willington a close game before Willington clinched it with two goals in the last ten minutes.

The Willington Under-14s beat visitors Stadium FC (Sunderland) 2-0 midweek but then lost 1-0 at home to Peterlee Oaklea Travel. Harry Drummond and Nicholas Elliot scored in the first game with Craig Alston man of the match. Joe Fairish was man of the match in the second game.

Willington Under-10s drew 0-0 with Washington Envelopes in their small-sided league match.

Brompton Juniors

Brompton Juniors Under-14s travelled to Grangefield in a match where both teams could only field ten players each due to injuries and school commitments.

It was a dire first half which ended 0-0 but Grangefield eventually took the lead from a corner and doubled their advantage in the first 15 minutes of the second half. This eventually woke up the away side with Lukas Sutton chasing a long ball and slotted the ball under the keeper. Four minutes later Sutton's pass found John Henry who equalised, Brompton scored the winner that they did not deserve when Henry forced home after a goalmouth scramble, Lukas Sutton was named man of the match.

Richmond Town

Richmond Town's teams continued their impressive season with the Under-14s winning their North Yorkshire County Cup semi-final against first division Cleveland Juniors. This means that three of the club's teams are in three different Cup finals and the Under-14s still have another semi-final to play.

The Under-14s won 5-3 against Cleveland Juniors, despite going a goal down early in the first half and missed a hat-full of chances. J Flannery equalised in the second half but Richmond fell behind soon after before N Fisher set up J Wooff with an equaliser. Poor marking at a free-kick allowed Cleveland to go back ahead but Richmond conceded no more goals and they scored two more through J Flannery and N Fisher to seal a great win.

Richmond Under-14s also played a league match at home to Newton Aycliffe on Friday, drawing 2-2. Richmond were short on players due to injuries which resulted in J Moss getting his first game of the season. Richmond went 1-0 down when a loose ball from a corner was turned in after Richmond were unable to clear off the line and they went 2-0 down after a penalty.

Richmond got their act together in the second half and dominated throughout, N Fisher pulling one back early in the half and K Holbrook converting a penalty later on to salvage a point.

Richmond Under-12s finally lost their unbeaten record away to Thirsk, 2-1.

Thirsk opened the scoring in the first minute and scored a second midway through the first half when Richmond failed to deal with a well taken corner. Richmond had chances in the first half to bring the scores level but were unable to make their possession count. In the second half Richmond were virtually camped in the Thirsk half of the field dominating the match for longer passages of play and despite several clear chances, had only one second half goal to show for their efforts which was scored by leading scorer B Whiteside.

Thirsk were a team determined to beat Richmond's unbeaten run but despite losing the unbeaten task the team have had a fantastic season, winning the league by some distance and a final on May 9 to look forward to.

Richmond Under-11s played their last home match of the season looking to maintain their unbeaten home record against Total Soccer Centre.

Richmond started brightly, looking for a win against a team who had beaten them twice this season and it took seven minutes for Richmond to score when R Catterick latched onto a ball down the right and squared it into the path of G Love who side-footed past the keeper.

The score was doubled when a defender deflected into the TSC net before G Love scored his second. Richmond continued to push and were rewarded with a fourth when G Hill took a throw down the right, the ball was headed back to him by TSC and his cross went over the keeper into the net. The score ended 5-0 when G Love completed his hat-trick by slotting the ball home. Man of match was Z Jackson.

Brompton Juniors

Brompton Juniors Under-14s travelled to Grangefield in a match where both teams could only field ten players. Grangefield took the lead from a corner and doubled their advantage in the first 15 minutes of the second half. This eventually woke up the away side with Lukas Sutton chasing a long ball and slotted the ball under the keeper. Four minutes later Sutton's pass found John Henry who equalised, Brompton scored the winner when Henry forced home after a goalmouth scramble. Lukas Sutton was man of the match