Darlington Spraire Lads and Lasses

Pride of place this week goes to the Under-14 B team, even though they lost in the semi-final of the Durham cup against a good Fulwell team. Fulwell drew first blood but Spraire battled back to equalise before half-time through Oliver. In the second half Fulwell scored three more times to make the final score 4-1 to Fulwell.

At Under-11 Spraire entertained Billingham Town. Billingham worked hard as Spraire attacked, however on the counter Billingham scored. Spraire kept up the pressure and were rewarded with a great goal from Verity. In the second half both teams had chances to score with Coglan and Leighton going close with great efforts. The final score finished up 1-1 man of the match being shared by Coglan and Davison.

At Under-17 Spraire kicked off the Jubilee cup competition with a game against local rivals Darlington Allstars despite going up twice in the first half Spraire could not hold the lead against a very spirited All Stars. In the second half Spraire piled on the pressure to win 11-2 scorers with nine players netting, Cole, Walton, Brischuk (2), Wilson, Ralph, Blenkharn, Stephenson (2), Harwood and Cullinan.

In mini-soccer Spraire Under-10s played Hartlepool Premier in the Cleveland league winning 3-1 the goals coming from Ben Turnbull, Richard Hinde and man of the match Jonathan Blewitt. In the following friendly Spraire lost 5-4 goals coming from Max Edmondsun, Kieron Stubley and two from James Park.

At Under-9 Spraire lost 2-1 to Hartburn in a close game the Spraire goal came from Ben Bradley.

In the Tyne Tees Girls League Spraire Lasses and Reyrolles Kestrels won their fifth game on the trot to retain second position in the league as they won 8-4 at Newcastle.

This was a good team performance led by Danni Shutt and Rachel Hedley in midfield. Rebecca Boyd went close to scoring and Emma Elliott and Laura Mather defended well.

The goalscorers were Kathryn Clarke (3), Chloe Atkinson (2). Bethhany Swinbank, Brogan Prudhoe and Pamela Macdonald.

Simple Lasses

This weekend the Under-11s Lasses enjoyed success on two days. First they travelled North to participate in a seven-a-side tournament hosted by Chester-le-Street Ladies. After strong performances against Billingham Town and North Shields, Darlington found themselves facing the tournaments most dominant team Chester-le-Street.

Simply Lasses however were unphased by the size and strength of their opposition and quickly established a four goal lead. All four goals were scored by Zoe Cooke, the best one being scored directly from a 20 yard free kick. Chester-le-Street pulled back two late goals as Darlington tired but never looked likely to catch the defiant Darlington girls, who notched up their first tournament win ever with the current team.

The Lasses entertained Billingham Town in their penultimate league fixture. The first quarter of the game was a very evenly matched affair with neither side managing to score. In the second quarter Darlington took the lead with a goal from Zoe Cooke but Billingham pulled a goal back just before the next break. In the third quarter Zoe Cooke got on the score sheet again when her strong shot from the left proved too difficult for the goalkeeper to stop. Just a few minutes later Billingham were level again after a goal mouth mix-up which the Darlington defence failed to clear the ball. Darlington's final goal was the goal of the day, scored by Kerry Denham who lobbed the ball into the roof of the net from the centre line, David Beckhain style leaving the goalkeeper stranded. Final score was 3-2 to Darlington.

Player of the match (home): Zoe Cooke. Player of the match (away): Jessica Close.