Junior round-up

In the North Riding Cup two teams from the TJA League played in an entertaining match.

Fourth Division Brompton Juniors Under-14s entertained First Division Beechwood and the away team scored after just two minutes following some sloppy defending by Brompton.

Stefan Pearson equalised from Lukas Sutton's excellent through-ball, Beechwood regained the lead with a brilliant 40 metre shot five minutes later. Pearson determination in a crowded penalty area produced another equaliser, only for Beechwood to score a third from a corner. Brompton tightened their defence up in the second half with William Bunn particulary outstanding. Sutton's running and passing was causing the away defence problems with Scott Goodrum and Pearson both going close from his service. Pearson completed his hat-trick from a Goodrum corner, then added his fourth in the last minute to take Brompton into the next round. This was an excellent team performance with Stefan Pearson man of the match.

Four seven a side games played between the two teams. Brompton A Under-9s and Thirsk A played in a fairly even game which finished 0-0. Either side could have taken the win, Brompton were looking very rusty after a two week lay off. The second game Brompton A were much-improved and dominated the game against Thirsk B. George Austic was in excellent form looking very sharp with his running from midfield. James Pugh opened the scoring and a goal from Austic gave a deserved 2-0 half-time lead.

The second half saw Brompton spurning several chances before Austic scored a superb free kick into a crowded area which left the goalkeeper with no chance. Final score was 3-0. Brompton B against Thirsk B saw Brompton having the better of the game, however Thirsk took a first half 2-1 lead. Brompton's goal from Robert Maclean who was having an outstanding match. Jason Howell and Maclean played some well worked play between them into the second half, dominating the midfield play. Howell got his first goal for the club with a well worked goal with Maclean. Brompton kept pushing forward looking for the winning goal. Near the end Maclean sprinted towards the Thirsk defence moving well to the right of the goal before hitting a thumping shot past the keeper from a difficult angle.

Brompton B against Thirsk A was a game Brompton never got to grips with. The highlight for Brompton was an outstanding display in goal from Oliver Welham who pulled off some superb saves despite carrying an injury. The half-time score was 1-0 to Thirsk. The second half saw Brompton defending for the rest of the game with substitute goalkeeper Edward Donne making several saves in an effort to keep the score down. Thirsk's experience told and they eventually finished up 4-0 winners.

Richmond Town

With a break from their league matches two old rivals met in the North Riding Cup, writes Ben Prosser.

Richmond Town Under-14s faced Northallerton. It was a tightly contested match with the final outcome being 2-1 to Richmond Town. Northallerton went ahead by a header from a corner early in the match. Soon after there was a 50/50 challenge between Chris Westgarth and a Northallerton player resulting in a penalty which was expertly put away by Kalumn Holbrook. Richmond Town put on the pressure for the rest of the half and on into the second half where they were rewarded for their efforts with some superb football which resulted in a great finish again by Kalumn Holbrook right into the corner of the goal.

After this Northallerton pushed on trying to break through the strong backline that Richmond has had this season. In the last couple of minutes Northallerton's Charles Whitehead rose above the Richmond defence from a corner to head the ball which beat the keeper but hit the bar. This chance came from Northallertons superior dominance in the air which proved to be their only superiority over Richmond.

Despite last minute scares Richmond managed to scrape a well-deserved victory that was helped by the last minute inclusion of Callum Davies to the starting line up.

Other Richmond Town results saw the Under-10s at home to Northallerton and Team 1 won 3-2 and Team 2 lost 2-0. The Under-11s also played a North Riding Cup game at home to Yarm Town. They lost 3-0.Man of the Match was Zak Jackson.

Richmond Town Under-15s played a much improved game against Sedgefield Juniors and won 7-1. Scorers were C Cox (5), R Crowther and A Weighell.

Durham County

THE Under-18s will be away to defending champions Birmingham, the team that beat Durham in last season's final, in the third round of the FA County Youth Cup next month.

The Durham lads, exempt from round one, beat visitors Nottinghamshire 2-1 in their second tie at Durham City's Archibald Stadium last Saturday.

Durham took the lead in the 37th minute when Liam Glazinski of Gateshead Redheugh BC set free clubmate Danny Olosuga to side-foot the ball home from 18 yards.

A minute before the break, two more Redheugh players combined to put Durham two up. John Berry crossed from the right for Chris Laws to head home.

Nottingham, beaten semi finalists last season, pulled a goal back in the first minute of the second half when Anthony Howell shot in from a corner. There were no more goals, but Durham would have added to their tally but for a fine display by Nottingham's man of the match, goalkeeper Dave O'Hare.

Durham County squad: Daryll Hall (Bishop Auckland); Michael Renshaw, Karl Haggon, Daniel Graham, Daniel Newby (Chester-le-Street); Mark Vrischuk, Aaron Wright (Chilton YC); Robbie Blemmings (Consett); Steven Brown, Chris Laws, Danny Olosuga, Ian Glazinski, John Berry, Liam Connell (Gateshead Redheugh BC); Craig Ellison, Michael Hedley (Herrington CW); Philip Waddleton, (Lumley); Gareth Hamblin (Newton Aycliffe); Michael Coulthard, Shaun Brown, John Maddison (Willington).

Riverside

Chester-le-Street

The only Riverside team to play at the weekend were the Under-11s who entertained Plains Farm in the Premier league. Riverside attacked from the start and Will Clydesdale soon had the ball in the net only for it to be ruled offside. The pressure paid off, however, when Jake Clarke opened the scoring for Riverside with a right foot drive. Simon Towers added a second for Riverside and Jake Clarke got his seconf to make it 3-0 at half time. After the restart Plains Farm pressed hard and Riverside keeper Mark Dawson was forced to make some excellent saves. Riverside soon got back on the attack and Mark Graham scored to make the final score 4-0 for Riverside.