Wearhead top table

Wearhead United top the table after a win at Crook White Swan. The dalesmen took a 2-0 lead and though White Swan came back to 2-2, a goal from a penalty turned the game back in favour of Wearhead. Michael Coulthard (2), Michael Watson (pen), Kevin Walker and Ross Sanderson scored for Wearhead and White Swan replied through Darren Deuchars, Kevin Carter and a 40 yarder from Stephen Welton on as sub.

Stanhope Town's good run ended with a defeat at home to Bishop Rugby Club. Alan Jones gave Bishop the lead but Christopher Tinkler equalised. Stanhope went ahead on the half hour through Darren Fletcher. Second half goals from Alan Jones and Dwayne Hinds made it 3-2 to the Rugby Club. Tim McKellar hit the bar for Stanhope near the end.

Byers Green lost 7-5 at home to Howden Australian after leading 4-3 at half time. Wayne Fleming grabbed a hat trick for the winners whose other goals came from Stephen Bradwell, Anthony Stewart, Ian Britton and Malcolm McWilliams. Byers Green scorers were Alan Chester, Kevin Dodds, Anthony Coates, Andy Malcolm and Shaun Nicholson.

Crook Wanderers drew 3-3 with Tow Law Cattle Mart in the Colin Waites Trophy second leg but the Mart go through 6-5 on aggregate. Tow Law led 2-0 with goals either side of half time from Lee Furber and Stephen Umpleby. Kevin Sanderson and Wayne Lonsdale brought it back to 2-2 but Furber restored the Tow Law lead. Sanderson scored his second to earn Wanderers a draw on the day.

Earl of Warwick continue to show good form and beat Howden Australian 6-1 to go through 10-3 on aggregate. Anthony Bailes (2), Paul Vickers (2), Andrew Sugden and John Waites netted for the Earl of Warwick whilst Michael Lee replied.

P W D L Pts

Wearhead United 5 3 1 1 10

Earl of Warwick 3 3 0 0 9

Stanhope Town 5 3 0 2 9

Willington Cottles 4 2 1 1 7

Crook Wanderers 3 2 0 1 6

Bishop Rugby Club 4 1 2 1 5

Cattle Mart 3 1 0 2 3

Howden Australian 3 1 0 2 3

Byers Green 5 1 0 4 3

White Swan 3 0 0 3 0

Bowman Anderson Accountants Spennymoor Sunday League

HORNDALE WMC held title-chasing Eldon Lane to a 2-2 draw last Sunday as top guns Salvins and New Masons also played out a draw.

Eldon raced into a 2-0 first-half lead through a Michael Davison brace. But Lee Foster pulled one back for Horndale after the break before Phil Richardson grabbed the dramatic equaliser.

"It was a great result for us," said Horndale secretary Keith Corbett. "They were a different team to last year, but we played well and I think we deserved the point."

Eldon secretary Neil Iley said: "I thought we were fairly comfortable at 2-0, but then we threw it away in the second half. Everyone was wanting to score, which I think gave Horndale more space to punish us with."

Lee Foster was Horndale's man-of-the-match, while Steffan McGowan was Eldon's.

New Masons, who were cruelly pipped to the title last season on goal difference, drew 1-1 with Salvins. Mark Greenwood netted for Masons after 25 minutes, and went on to win the man-of-the-match award, while Kenny Dufferwell scored the equaliser five minutes before half-time. Colin Bell was their man of the match.

Meanwhile, Bradon beat Royal George 3-1 thanks to goals from Allan Jones, Peter Boucher and Lee Nyland. Dave Leighton scored George's goal and was man-of-the-match, while Dave Ralph was man-of-the-match for the victors.

Huntsman completed an impressive 8-1 win over Bishop Auckland side Lacey's thanks to a hat-trick from striker Wayne Marram. Andy Clay, Steve Hepples, Chris Walker, Steve Woodward and Andrew Dawson scored the other five, while MOM was Dawson.

In Division Two, Spennymoor Thorns kept up their 100 per cent record with five wins from five games after a 5-1 win over the Locomotion.

After an evenly contested first half, Thorns took the lead through Paul Gargett and added a second on half-time through Mark Russell.

After the break Mark Russell bagged his brace to complete his hat-trick and a fifth goal from Steve Smith made it five. John Airey netted Loco's consolation.

"It was quite an evenly contested first half until some superb finishing by Mark Russell for his hat-trick did the damage," said Thorns manager Dave McWaters.

Loco manager Dave Taylor said: "I was frustrated by the whole side. We let ourselves down in a big way. They were a very good side but we gave them too much respect and they punished us for it."

Meanwhile, Broompark Loves kept up their impressive start to the season with a convincing 6-1 win over Green Tree.

Man-of-the-match Gavin Wood, Brent Naylor and Tony Robson all netted a brace a-piece, while Andrew Rogers scored Green Tree's goal. Darren Johnson was their man of the match.

Delighted Loves manager Keith Flowers said: "We played extremely well and it's been a very good start for us. It's a nice change to have 17 players turning up every week wanting to play. It should be a good season for us."

Green Tree secretary Ian Richardson said: "We just went out and expected to win because of the season we had last year. We're in for a shock if we continue to play like that."

Results, Sunday, September 2 - Division One: Croxdale 2, N.Aycliffe 3; Horndale 2, Eldon Lane 2; Salvins 1, New Masons 1; Brandon 3, Royal George 1; Lacey's 1, Huntsman 8; Old Shildon 3, Europa 2.

Division Two: Broompark Loves 6, Green Tree 1; North Briton 3, Brawns Den 4; Pit Laddie 2, Postchaise 3; Masons Utd 4, Shildon Ath. 4; Black Horse 8, Two Blues 3; Boot & Shoe 5, Binchester Hotel 2; Spennymoor Thorns 5, Locomotion 1; Victoria 1, Binchester Social 3.

Hathaway Auckland and District League

After Saturday's games, DSRM remain the only team in the League with a 100 per cent record. They took all three points in a hard-fought game against Shildon Railway, with a 2-1 win. Paul French gave them a 1-0 half-time lead., Shildon Railway equalised in the second half and, just when it looked like both sides had settled for a point, Tony Downing scored the winner.

Black and Decker moved into second place after a 3-1 win over Cleveland Bridge. Kevin Shoulder scored their first-half goal, Paul Harnett and Derek Cooper scored in the second half, with Duane Beagle scoring Cleveland Bridge's consolation goal near the end.

Quinns Inn beat Roddymoor 5-2. The scores were level at half-time, with both sides scoring twice. Darren Lamb and Andrew Johnson scored for Roddymoor and John Nicholson twice for Quinns Inn. In the second half Quinns Inn got on top and scored a further three goals through John Nicholson, Steven Fothergill and Steven Quinn.

The only game to finish goalless was between Cockfield and Brandon Station.

Darlington Church and Friendly League

Following a 1-0 reverse to Hydro in midweek SCA produced the result of the day when they defeated The Mowden 2-1 last Saturday. Goals from Chris Jordan and Stuart Ord gave SCA a comfortable half-time lead but in the second half it was a different story as The Mowden lads fought back but at the final whistle they only had a goal from Calum Reilly to show for all their efforts.

The Royal sit proudly at the top of the table following two more wins. In midweek they defeated Elm Road WMC 5-3 in a game where they were 3-0 up at half-time and cruising only to find themselves drawing 3-3 with 20 minutes remaining. However, they sorted themselves out and scored two more to win the game. On Saturday they entertained Hydro and ran out comfortable 5-0 winners with their scorers being Paul Weir(2), the second being a stunning individual effort where his close ball skills where a joy to witness, Shaun Featherstons, Shaun Campbell and Wayne Muldowney with Steve Moran replying for Hydro. In another entertaining game The Three Tuns overcame DGSOB 3-2. The Tuns lads held a slender 2-1 lead at half-time and were put under the cosh by The Grammar School who deservedly equalised with a cracker of a goal only for The Tuns to get the winner with a late penalty. Deepdale started their season with a resounding 13-1 victory over a disappointing Greyhound side. Deepdale's goals came from Trenton Hewitt (4), Darren Baxter(3), Nigel Brass(2), Jonathan Rogers(2), Ian Jones and Gavin Thirling. A very good, tight game was played between The Navy Club and Elm Road WMC which ended all-square at 2-2.Elm Road had a 2-0 half-time lead with a penalty from Daniel Plews and a Beckham-like whipped in corner from Gary Scott which went straight into the net. In the second half Navy Club came out fighting and deservedly got a point with two well taken goals from Lee Robinson. Another top- notch game took place at the RA Ground between RA Youth and Otter & Fish which ended 4-2 in favour of the Otter. The RA youngsters started brilliantly and led 2-0 at half-time with goals from Alan Foster and Craig Adamson. However, with 30 minutes left the Otter's coach, Freddie King, played his mastercard. He pushed veteran defender Gary Donald up front and this changed the game as the Otter scored four times with two for Donald and two for Neil Bell. The other game to take place resulted in a 5-1 win for Aycliffe Saints over Wheatsheaf Wanderers.

Darlington & District League

Saturday's seven games produced a total of 47 goals with East End bagging nine as they beat DGSOB who would only manage two in reply.

Killinghall Arms went one less as they defeated DSRM SC 8-1 courtesy of goals from Neil Matthias (3), Dave Roddy and Danny Fleary two apiece and John Henderson.

Greyhounds took an early lead through man of the match Kevin Myers and the same player almost added a second as his side dominated the first half proceedings. However after the turn-around it was Archdeacon's turn to take advantage of the strong wind and they quickly equalised and then took the lead with only 15 minutes to go. A late Greyhound's rally produced a David Abdale equaliser and with only three minute remaining Paul McGee converted a penalty to give Greyhounds victory by a short head.

Newton Aycliffe bagged their first win of the season by 5-1 and left Grey Horse pointless. Michael Molliy (2), James Miller (2) and Anthony Campbell scored for their winner, David Palmer replied.

RA Social maintained their 100 per cent record with a hard fought victory against Speedy Hire. Leading 2-0 Darren Watson pulled one back and the same player later pegged back RA to 3-2 before RA reduced a 4-2 win with the last kick of the match.

Something had to give at Houghton School as Shuttle and Loom and Post Boy went into the match with unbeaten records but it was Post Boy who took the spoils 4-1.

Debutante Adrian Jones (2), Paul Robson and Richie Gardner scored for Post Boy, Neville Fuller replied.

The Albion have started like a house on fire and put five past Rothmans to top of the league. Gavin Bell's hat trick gave him ten for the season in only three games. Stuart Cottam and Mark Harris completed the scoring.