The Northern Echo Darlington Sunday Invitation League

Nestfield opened the scoring through Chris Robinson but the Dragon were soon on level terms through top scorer Elliott McCabe who went on to complete his hat-trick in the second-half.

Fred Wood added a fourth towards the end to seal a very good victory and Dragon performance.

Classic World of Fitness ended BA Derby's recent good form by inflicting a 4-2 defeat, which included a 20-yard thunderbolt of a goal by Classic's Martin Williamson.

Spraire progressed to the next round of The Northern Echo League Cup with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over a spirited Jack Horners side.

In the first-half Jacks keeper Halstead was inspired and in the second-half Spraire continue to dominate without scoring.

Jacks stunned Spraire when Richard Tutty turned smartly to fire a left-foot shot home with 20 minutes to go. The goal spurred Spraire and within five minutes Danny Richmond struck an equaliser with a shot from the edge of the box. Spraire continued to press, but Jacks kept them out until a right-wing corner was unluckily deflected into his own net by a Jacks' defenders to secure the Spraire victory.

In Division Three AFC Orange kept up their promotion hopes with a convincing 6-2 victory over Biglin News.

Only four fixtures beat the rain on Sunday with the Division One programme wiped out.

Midweek results - Division One: Spraire 3, Copper Beech DCS 0.

Division Three: Shuttle and Loom 6, The Falchion 0; BA Kings Head 2, Royal British Legion 1.

Division Two

P W L D F A Pts GD

Nestfield Club 18 16 1 1 115 33 49 82

Hoppers Trans 17 11 5 1 70 44 34 26

Green Dragon 17 9 5 3 88 53 30 35

BA Derby 9 8 8 3 80 70 27 10

Classic Fitness 18 7 5 6 65 63 27 2

Sadberge 14 7 4 3 59 50 24 9

Northern Spirit RA 17 6 6 5 41 38 23 3

Greyhound 15 6 4 5 45 46 23 -1

Smith and Allan 17 6 7 4 63 65 22 -2

Northern Spirit Colts 17 3 10 4 39 66 13 -27

Newton Cap 14 3 11 0 36 82 9 -46

Hogans 17 0 16 1 20 111 1 -91

Division Three

Shuttle and Loom 14 12 1 1 87 15 37 72

21st All Stars 12 10 1 1 71 14 31 57

BA Kings Head 14 9 3 2 40 28 29 12

Hopetown WMC 15 8 5 2 64 31 26 33

AFC Orange 14 8 5 1 62 34 25 28

Hurworth Albion 13 8 5 0 43 24 24 19

Royal British Legion 12 4 7 1 39 32 13 7

**Brown Trout 10 4 6 0 31 43 9 -12

Axa Insurance 12 2 10 0 13 98 6 -85

Biglin News 11 1 10 0 16 60 3 -44

The Falchion 13 0 13 0 10 97 0 -87

*Denotes three points deducted

Brian Adams Transport Emergency Services League

Washington Police moved to within a victory of the Division One title after a 3-0 win over Derwentside who were beset by injuries and fielded a weakened side against the leaders.

They held out until the second-half when goals by Tony Tyall, Denis Elrick and Alan Elderbrant secured the home side's win.

Stockton Police look set to finish runners-up after thrashing Frankland 7-1 with two goals each for Andy Blackett and Liam Denny. Peter Allen, Mick Higgin and Noel Young scored the others. Frankland's consolation goal was scored by Richie Huskinson.

Durham Fire threw open the Division Two title race after their 3-1 win over leaders Sunderland Saints. Veteran Colin Jones scored twice with Ian Bell getting the other. Had it not been for points deducted, the Fire Brigade would be joint top with Saints and a game in hand.

Easington too stayed in the title race, thanks to their 6-1 win over Sedgefield. Nev Carmen rarely scores for Easington but shocked everyone with a hat-trick. Chris Bell, Paul Hughes and Martin McArdle got one each. Carl Moss's goal signed off the season for sorry Sedgefield who have struggled throughout to field a full team.

Division One

P W D L F A Pts

Washington 7 5 2 0 20 13 17

Stockton 9 5 1 3 29 17 16

Derwentside 9 3 2 4 19 22 11

Frankland 7 3 0 4 18 26 9

Dur and Chester 8 2 2 4 18 23 8

Darlington 6 1 1 4 9 21 4

Division Two

Saints 9 6 1 2 28 14 19

*Dur Fire 8 6 1 1 29 15 13

Easington 7 4 1 2 26 17 13

Durham HQ 10 4 0 6 20 30 12

Sedgefield 10 2 2 6 13 35 8

Langbaurgh 8 1 1 6 15 21 4

*Denotes six points deducted

Ashley Air Products

Over-40s League

Last Saturday only six games were played, the rest being postponed as the grounds were waterlogged. The further setback means that some clubs wil have to play at least two games, or in some cases, three a week in order to fulfil their backlog of games.

In the Premier, Blackhall Hardwick lost 3-2 at home to Penshaw Catholic. Blackhall had to win to ease their relegation fears and keep Penshaw a point behind them.

Blackhall failed to adapt to a greasy surface and heavy pitch while Penshaw used the wings and long ball and were 2-0 up at the interval through Clarkson and Armstrong. On the restart, Tony Fahey quickly put Blackhall back into the game but they were caught at the back by Green. Blackhall still fought on and Tommy Seymour made it 3-2 but despite all Blackhall's efforts Penshaw's defence held firm.

In Division One, Barnes lost 5-1 at home to fellow strugglers Darsley Park. Barnes, never came to terms with the atrocious conditions. They were a goal down after three minutes, a sliced attempt at clearing going into the net for an own goal, which unsettled them and they went 2-0 down before Colin Rostron scored with a spot-kick close on half-time. On the restart, Barnes struggled to put their game together, but to no avail as the Park revelled in the muddy conditions scoring three further goals to run out comfortable 5-1 away winners.

Steels improved their Division Two position by defeating relegation-haunted visitors Rockcliffe 4-1. The first-half ended goalless. After the restart Rockcliffe took the lead with a 35-yard pile driver which left the keeper helpless. The reverse stung Steels and Keith Wooler levelled after five minutes. Wilkinson put them 2-1 up from a penalty and then substitute John Smith scored with his first touch of the ball to make it 3-1 and finally George Donaldson made it 4-1 with a fine curling shot. Wingate turned in a spectacular display to defeat former leaders Cleveland Bridge 3-1. Dave Whiting gave them an interval lead and Jimmy Whiting added a second shortly after the restart and Dave Carr made it 3-0 before Cleveland reduced the arrears in the closing minutes.

Premier League

P W D L F A Pts

Steels SC 14 1 0 2 43 17 36

Blue Flames 16 10 3 3 33 22 33

Inn Place 16 10 1 5 33 28 31

Billingham W 16 8 6 2 44 17 30

S'land Rail 17 9 2 6 35 23 29

Marden 16 8 4 3 36 26 29

Bates Cottages 20 6 7 7 36 35 25

Penshaw CC 17 4 5 8 26 31 17

Ghead Ex-S 20 4 2 14 22 65 14

N Police 13 4 1 8 24 35 13

Blackhall H 16 3 3 10 27 41 12

Sedgefield 17 3 1 13 13 30 10

Division One

Owton Manor 16 10 5 1 48 19 35

Usworth WMC 17 10 5 2 39 21 35

Gateshead HG 17 8 5 4 32 25 29

S'land Catholic 16 8 4 4 32 24 28

Wearmouth 18 7 5 6 38 30 26

Ferryhill Greyhound 13 7 4 2 22 12 25

Masons Arms 17 6 2 9 38 34 29

Newton Aycliffe 17 5 4 8 23 40 19

Grindon Br 17 5 3 9 23 33 18

Byker St Peter's 12 4 2 6 20 29 14

Darsley Park 17 2 3 12 20 45 9

Barnes Hotel 14 2 2 10 17 29 8

Division Two

Board Inn 17 10 5 2 41 27 35

H'pool Catholic 19 10 4 5 37 27 34

Rams Head 16 9 3 4 34 23 30

B Telecom 14 8 2 4 35 26 26

Glaxo 19 7 4 8 42 39 25

Boldon BB 18 6 4 8 37 42 22

Red House WMC 15 5 6 4 29 24 21

Wallsend RS 14 6 3 5 26 21 21

Steels FC 17 5 4 8 25 30 19

Rockcliffe Arms 18 3 7 8 21 36 16

Touchdown Hotel 16 3 2 10 33 46 14

NS Wanderers 16 4 2 10 31 48 14

Division Three

Roker Queen Vic 18 8 5 5 46 36 29

Cleveland Bridge 14 8 2 4 38 28 26

Regency W 16 5 2 6 28 29 26

Hylton C 17 7 5 5 29 32 26

Durham CS 16 7 2 7 36 32 23

Houghton CC 14 7 1 6 23 23 22

Taylors 17 6 4 7 31 36 22

Wingate 19 6 2 11 31 43 20

Spring Gardens 11 4 4 3 28 21 16

Oddies 15 4 4 7 27 43 16

Billingham T 15 4 3 5 22 26 15

Division Four

S Shields Lake 19 13 3 3 58 28 42

Wynyard Vets 15 13 1 1 63 19 40

West Cornforth 21 9 6 6 44 35 33

Consett CC 12 10 0 2 50 15 30

Hebburn DT 13 8 14 1 35 18 28

Livingstones 17 7 5 5 38 33 26

NS Vets 14 8 1 5 40 20 25

White Horse Inn 21 7 4 10 45 72 25

Darlington R 18 6 2 10 52 62 20

Winstons 15 5 1 9 19 29 16

Halfway House 18 4 2 12 28 52 14

Sportsmans A 19 3 3 13 34 56 12

Houghton Mill 17 1 0 16 18 74 3

Crook and District League

WATERLOGGED pitches resulted in the entire league programme being postponed on Saturday.

In midweek, Byers Green St Peter's beat Wearhead 5-1 in the semi final of the Colin Waites Trophy to set up two finals over Easter weekend.

Today they meet Crook Wanderers in the Norman Wright Memorial Trophy while on Easter Monday they face Willington Cottles in the Colin Waites knockout. Both games are at the Crook Millfield, kick off 11 am.

P W D L Pts

Crook Wanderers 8 5 3 0 18

Willington Cottles 7 5 0 2 15

Howden Australian 8 4 2 2 14

Byers Green 9 4 1 4 13

Billy Row 9 4 1 4 13

Stanhope Town 8 3 2 3 11

Crook White Swan 7 1 0 6 3

Wearhead United 6 0 1 5 1

Stanley and District

Sunday League

P W D F A Pts

Pelton Fell WMC 14 12 2 71 20 38

Grange Village WMC 17 12 2 55 34 38

South Moor Sports 14 12 1 83 13 37

*Perkinsville Ship Inn 19 8 3 45 39 24

Stanley Blue Boar Tav 19 7 1 66 61 2

Newfield Inn 16 5 3 53 54 18

Stanley RAFA 17 4 5 51 51 17

Stanley Empire WMC 18 5 1 47 99 17

Gateshead Borough Arms 16 5 1 29 64 16

Stanley Masons Arms YCOB 17 1 0 15 126 3

*Denotes three points deducted

Results - League: Borough Arms v Empire WMC - postponed; Ship Inn 0, South Moor Sports 5 (McGough 3, Pither, Thompson); Masons Arms YCOB 1, Pelton Crown 8 (Moody 4, Weatherburn 2, Stone, Tague); Newfield 1, Sunniside 4 (Kelly 2, Bewick, Convery pen); Stanley RAFA 0, Grange Villa WMC 4.