The Northern Echo Darlington Sunday Invitation League

The two Darlington and Stockton Times First Division Cup semi-finals produced victories for Newton Aycliffe Sports Club and Coundon Miners Arms. In the clash of top against bottom, leaders Aycliffe beat Jack Horners 5-1.

In the other semi-final Coundon beat Springfield 4-1 on an extremely heavy and boggy pitch. Springfield took the lead through Darren Tate but Coundon gradually took control of the game and scored twice in both halves - Rob Mazur and Darren Wilson with two goals each.

In Division One, Stooperdale RA got back to winning ways against Copper Beech DCS. RA opened the scoring after 20 minutes when Marc Radmore headed in from a corner and he doubled the lead following a fine individual run from the half way line. Stuart Alderson made it 3-0 just before half time. DCS got back into the game in the second half, Alan Curry scoring with an excellent left foot shot. But Graham Dodsworth and Ian Henderson scored further goals for RA to make the final score 5-1.

The Northern Echo moved third after beating Brinkburn 3-2. Following early Echo pressure, Brinkburn took the lead through Jason Todd, a lead they held until half-time. A Les Mooney penalty brought the Echo level before two further goals form Rob Carter and Craig Maddison looked to have made the game comfortable for the Echo, but a second goal for Jason Todd, and late pressure from Brinkburn saw the Echo pleased to hear the final whistle.

In a hard-fought contest Second Division leaders Nestfield Club maintained their 100 per cent record with a 9-6 victory over fellow promotion candidates Sadberge. Nestfield's goals came from Gary Mitchell (4), man of the match Rod Brown scored two, a 25-yarder from Danny Chapman and one each for Mark Kemp and Chris Robinson. Scorers for Sadberge were Mark Grant and Gaz Brotton (2) Derek Priestman and Mike Robson.

Second-placed Green Dragon lost ground on Nestfield losing 4-1 to Northern Spirit RA who ran the game and deserved their win which came courtesy of goals from Darren Warr, Dave Tuschick, Matt Waistell and Mike Donnelly. Elliott McCabe grabbed a consolation goal for the Dragon with ten minutes remaining.

Hoppers Transport moved to third place after beating Newton Cap 2-1 with goals from Andy and Ian Thompson, Stephen Reeve scoring for the Cap.

Smith & Allan and Bishop Auckland Derby shared the points in a 4-4 draw. Alan Storey and Shaun Campbell with two each for Smith and Allan and Michael Latcham, Thomas Furness, Wayne King and Matthew Gowland were the Derby scorers.

Northern Spirit Colts' new Yates's-sponsored Celtic-style strip looked to be bringing some badly-needed good luck as they took a deserved 2-0 lead at Classic World of Fitness but they tired on the boggy pitch and went on to lose 4-2.

In the Third Division, leaders Shuttle and Loom continued their tremendous start to the season with a resounding 9-1 victory over Biglins News.

Two of the chasing pack met with the honours even. AFC Orange remain second after drawing 2-2 with Hopetown WMC. Both teams adapted well to the difficult conditions, with Orange taking the lead through Steve Charlton before Hopetown equalised with a goal from Amadip Singh. Mike Weston scored to put Hopetown a 2-1 lead at half time. In the second half Hopetown failed to convert their chances and were left to rue missed opportunities when Kev Kokes scored Orange's equaliser in the dying minutes.

Brown Trout moved into third place after thrashing an Oak Tree side with only nine men 12-1. Scorers for the Trout were Carl Batty (4), Phil Snowball (3), Rob Stark (2) Mark Ponsford (2) and Mike Blewitt. Wayne Gill scored for the Oak Tree.

Hurworth Albion played 89 minutes with only ten men and still managed to beat Bishop Auckland Kings Head 4-2.

AXA Insurance gained only their second victory of the season with a 3-2 win over Royal British Legion.

The Falchion are still rooted to the bottom and remain pointless after losing 6-0 to 21st All Stars. Aaron Denham opened the scoring for the AllStars as they lead 1-0 at half-time. They moved up a gear in the second half. Darren Kokes grabbed a hat-trick, Stephen Stacey hit one into the top corner and Denham got his second as the All Stars ran out worthy winners.

Division One

P W L D F A Pts

Newton Aycliffe 5 5 0 0 31 11 15

Team Scania 5 5 0 0 27 7 15

Northern Echo 7 5 2 0 18 14 15

Coundon Miners Arms 4 4 0 0 17 3 12

Busters 6 3 2 1 20 12 10

East End WMC 4 3 1 0 13 8 9

Springfield 5 2 2 1 19 14 7

Spraire 5 2 3 0 19 16 6

Stooperdale RA 6 2 4 0 23 24 6

Copper Beech DCS 8 1 7 0 11 31 3

Brinkburn 6 1 5 0 14 37 3

Jack Horners 7 0 7 0 12 47 0

Division Two

Nestfield Club 7 7 0 0 50 16 21

Green Dragon 8 5 2 1 56 26 16

Hoppers Transport 8 5 3 0 31 26 15

Northern Spirit RA 7 4 1 2 20 12 14

Sadberge 8 4 2 2 37 31 14

Greyhound 8 3 2 3 24 24 12

Classic World of Fitness 7 3 2 2 36 31 11

BA The Derby 9 3 4 2 39 37 11

Smith & Allan 7 0 6 1 12 34 1

Newton Cap 6 1 5 0 12 33 3

Northern Spirit Colts 7 0 6 1 12 34 1

Hogans 8 0 7 1 15 53 1

Division Three

Shuttle & Loom 7 7 0 0 67 6 21

AFC Orange 7 5 1 1 38 15 16

Brown Trout 8 5 3 0 43 31 15

Hurworth Albion 7 5 2 0 25 13 15

Hopetown WMC 8 4 2 2 30 17 14

21st All Stars 5 4 1 0 28 7 12

BA Kings Head 7 3 3 1 21 18 10

NA Oak Tree 7 3 3 1 21 35 10

Royal British Legion 6 2 4 0 21 28 6

Axa Insurance 9 2 7 0 13 64 6

Biglins News 8 1 6 1 11 36 4

The Falchion 9 0 9 0 8 66 0

Darlington Church and Friendly League

The rearranged outstanding Archbold Trophy tie was a cracker considering the conditions. Stillington The Royal visited Darlington Busters and came from 4-2 down at the interval to go through 6-5. Gavin Bell scored a hat-trick for Busters with Darren Kocis and Mike Phillips completing their scoring, Wayne Muldowney and John Oram both hit doubles for Royal, Paul Weir and Charlie Sedgewick grabbed one apiece, stand-in keeper Simon Hares did well for The Royal making telling saves.

All the other games were league cup ties. Sedgefield Athletic came from two down to defeat Chilton Wheatsheaf Wanderers 5-3 with second-half goals from Jonathan Craig, Tony Stafford Chris Hardie and the Brassell brothers Dave and Scott. John Daniels hit two and Paul McClearn for Wheatsheaf. Newton Aycliffe Turbinia had a 2-0 victory over Model T in a hard-fought tie with goals from Lee Robinson and substitute Gary Fawcett.

Nev Richardson hit five as Newton Aycliffe Hydro defeated Darlington GSOB 7-1. Darren Muncaster opened the scoring before Richardson started his haul with Trevor Cooke scoring in the second half. Old Boys consolation came through Chris Brockbank.

Darlington Aidans were another side to come from behind, winning 7-3 against Shildon Three Tuns. Tony Brown opened for Tuns but a substitution by Aidans of Chris Barr brought results with two quick goals. In the second-half, Barr completed his hat-trick, a couple went to Steve Leech with both Graham Hall and Geoff Kell scoring by chipping the keeper. An own goal and a second for Brown rounded off the scoring.

Darlington RA Youth got the better of Darlington AFC Tap and Spile, winning 5-2 in a good cup tie. For Youth, Darren Kokes scored twice with one apiece going to Carl Moss, Steven Gamble and James Parkinson, Mike Bainbridge and Shaun Cambell replied for Tap.

At Barnard Castle, Deepdale had little trouble going into the next round overcoming Darlington SCA 8-0, their goals coming at regular intervals from a Stephen Bennett hat-trick and one each for Trenton Hewitt, James Nze, Mark Pain, Andrew Harrison and Darren Gill.

l The league suffered a blow this week with the death of president George Davison who had held the post since 1966. George lived for his football and was known thoughout the county. He was also president of the Darlington Referee Society and also held the position of chairman for many years of the Darlington Charity Cup.