Who has made The Northern Echo's North-East Team of the Season?

It has been a difficult season for Hartlepool, but it would almost certainly have been a whole lot worse had Carson not been playing in goal.

The former Sunderland trainee missed the first three months of the campaign through injury, but after forcing his way into the side in mid-October, produced a series of consistently excellent displays that saw him claim two awards at Pools’ recent Player of the Year ceremony.

His remarkable season could still get even better as he been named in Northern Ireland’s training squad ahead of this summer’s European Championships.

CHRIS HUNTER (Darlington)

Having started the season in the centre of defence, Hunter proved his adaptability by making the right-back slot his own, with his pace making him a match for any opposing winger during Darlington’s title-winning campaign.

Hunter did not score, but stopping goals was his forte, along with Gary Brown, Kevin Burgess, Terry Galbraith and goalkeeper Peter Jameson.

The quintet formed an extremely strong defence, and made a huge collective contribution to Darlington winning the Northern Premier League title.

DANIEL AYALA (Middlesbrough)

Boro’s promotion success was built on the strength of their defence, and Ayala can justifiably claim to have been the best centre-half in the Football League for most of the season.

Strong and dominant in the air, Ayala is also an excellent reader of the game, and he successfully shackled the best attackers in the Championship whenever he encountered them.

He claimed three important goals – it should have been four but he had a perfectly-good strike at Birmingham ruled out for offside – and he looks more than capable of handling the step up to the top-flight.

BEN GIBSON (Middlesbrough)

It would be unfair to select one of Boro’s all-conquering centre-halves without also picking the other, and Gibson has developed into one of the most exciting young defenders in the country in the last 12 months.

He wasn’t a regular in the first three months of the season, with Aitor Karanka often playing either Tomas Kalas or Fernando Amorebieta at centre-half, but from early November onwards, his only absences were due to suspension or injury.

Powerful and athletic, Gibson is the perfect foil to Ayala, with his hometown connections heightening his importance to the squad dynamic that helped carry Boro to promotion.

GEORGE FRIEND (Middlesbrough)

On the field, Friend has been consistently excellent yet again this season, making a huge contribution in both defence and attack on Boro’s left-hand side.

His reliable defensive work can sometimes be overlooked because of the quality of his attacking, but as well as making a series of hugely effective overlapping runs, he also ensured Boro were rock solid on their left flank.

Off the pitch, the full-back was equally influential, emerging as one of the figureheads of Boro’s promotion push and throwing himself into a large amount of community work that saw him cement his position as a fans’ favourite.

PHIL TURNBULL (Darlington)

It took Turnbull a few weeks to settle after he joined from Gateshead, but once he was joined by the physical presence of Leon Scott, he excelled in the centre of midfield.

Turnbull’s calmness under pressure and range of passing demonstrated that he belongs to a higher level, and his experience was also crucial to the team.

He took both of Darlington’s Player of the Year awards – voted for by fans and players – but was controversially omitted from the Northern Premier League’s Team of the Season, despite being the best player in the best team in the division.

JAN KIRCHHOFF (Sunderland)

On the evidence of his debut against Tottenham, you wouldn’t have had Kirchhoff anywhere near a North-East select XI. Playing at centre-half, the German looked completely out of his depth as Spurs’ attackers rang rings around him.

However, from the moment he was switched to a defensive-midfield role, the January signing from Bayern Munich became a completely different proposition, and his performances have been a key factor in Sunderland’s survival push.

His positional awareness and anticipatory skills mean he is rarely caught out of possession, and his assurance on the ball has enabled him to become the midfield fulcrum of a much-improved Sunderland side.

ADAM CLAYTON (Middlesbrough)

Having been one of Boro’s most influential players as they narrowly missed out on promotion last May, Clayton has kicked on again this season, successfully establishing himself as one of the best midfielders outside the Premier League.

His tackling ability and combative skills have helped him form a hugely-successful partnership with Grant Leadbitter, with the pair’s efforts a major factor in Boro’s 22 Championship clean sheets.

He has also been effective on the front foot though, with his patient, probing passing enabling the Teessiders to switch defence into attack, and ensuring Karanka’s side were able to counter-attack effectively throughout the campaign.

ANDROS TOWNSEND (Newcastle)

It says much about Newcastle’s season that their only player to make it into the North-East select XI wasn’t even on their books until the last week of the January transfer window.

Townsend spent the first half of the campaign languishing in Spurs’ reserves, but he made an immediate impact on Tyneside, with his desire to get on the ball and offer a direct attacking threat setting him apart from the vast majority of his team-mates.

He has claimed four Premier League goals for Newcastle – more than in the whole of his Tottenham career – and his performances have provided a welcome ray of light amid the gathering gloom.

JERMAIN DEFOE (Sunderland)

Where on earth would Sunderland have been without the goalscoring abilities of Defoe? Almost certainly, condemned to the Championship months ago.

Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy are the only Englishmen to have scored more Premier League goals than Defoe this season, and while the 33-year-old might not quite make it into Roy Hodgson’s England squad for Euro 2016, he could hardly have done more to promote his cause.

His predatory skills remain as well-honed as ever, with goals like last weekend’s match-winner against Chelsea underlining his technical excellence and awareness in and around the box. He has also added a greater roundness to his game, enabling him to excel as a lone centre-forward.

NATHAN CARTMAN (Darlington)

The diminutive striker was always one of the first names on Martin Gray’s team sheet, due to the tireless effort and predatory skills that made him Quakers’ leading scorer with 20 goals in all competitions.

His most crucial strike came during a rare appearance as a substitute in the away game at Salford, as he found space in a packed penalty area to give Darlington a dramatic 4-3 win on a day when Quakers really began to fancy their title chances.

Cartman has become a fans’ favourite since joining in January 2015 from Harrogate RA, and more is expected of him in the National League North.

Substitutes: Dimi Konstantopoulos (Middlesbrough), Gary Brown (Darlington), Chancel Mbemba (Newcastle), Grant Leadbitter (Middlesbrough), Lee Cattermole (Sunderland), Lee Gaskell (Darlington), Billy Paynter (Hartlepool).

MANAGER: SAM ALLARDYCE (Sunderland)

Aitor Karanka guided Middlesbrough to promotion, Martin Gray led Darlington to the Evo-Stik Northern Premier title and Jason Ainsley took Spennymoor to promotion via the play-offs. Craig Hignett also performed heroics by keeping Hartlepool in the Football League after they looked doomed following the departure of Ronnie Moore.

But in terms of achieving what had looked impossible, no one did a better job than Allardyce. He took over a Sunderland side that had claimed just three points from their opening ten matches, but engineered a recovery that reached a glorious climax when safety was secured on Wednesday night.