Finals thoughts and a very bitter ending

The Colliers wore the black and white stripes, the Evening Chronicle – latterly goal starved – talked of the “avalanche” against poor Boro and risked being engulfed by its own exaggeration.

The crowd may have been somewhat smaller, the Magpies – doubtless hoarse – out-voiced throughout by the visiting supporters.

Emolliently, they sang “One Jackie Milburn” – a view with which the St James faithful were unlikely to disagree – helpfully, they reminded the Mags of their postcode. Sing NE63.

It was good also to see Jack Watson, muffled against a perishing May night, still sedulously scouting for Tony Mowbray and hoping that West Brom may yet join Newcastle in the escape hatch. Jack, Shildon lad, is 88.

The one-swallow Magpies, it should be said, were comfortably the better side, in the lead through Xisco after just 70 seconds.

Two minutes later, Mr Alan Shearer and his sidekick Mr Ian Dowie made their appearance in the directors’ box – the same Alan Shearer whose players face smallfortune fines for being as much as ten seconds late on parade.

Having missed the first of four, he waved perfunctorily to the faithful. The nature of his timekeeping fine has so far not been disclosed.

THOUGH not (so far as could be ascertained) at the Northumberland Senior Cup final, the admirable Harry Pearson has been writing of St James’ Park, too.

The latest When Saturday Comes recalls an earlier Tyne-Tees derby, Middlesbrough again the losers.

“You’ll win nowt, yooz,” shouted a replica-shirted Boro boy – “voice like gravel in a blender” – at a departing Mag.

“Well, yeez’ll win nowt, neither,” replied the victor, across the heads of the stewards.

“Aye,” came the prompt reply, “but we’re the Boro and we don’t expect to win owt.”

Harry’s philosophical. “I wonder how often football life in the North-East has so fully lived up to our expectations?”

MIDDLESBROUGH expect to win the North Riding Senior Cup, though. They’ve lifted it 25 times since the competition kicked off in 1928-29 and were again in Wednesday’s final – against Stokesley SC, from the skilltrainingltd Northern League second division.

The crowd was around 350, almost doubled by the size of Boro’s Holby City medical team. St John Ambulance people were all over the place, too, clearly there to treat the expected cases of hypothermia.

These games mark the conclusion of a weatherbeaten season. Mid-May, and it might be called the bitter end. The flanneled played cricket out the back.

The Boro fans appeared subdued, stirred only by two exquisite goals from 18-yearold Gary Martin, a Darlington lad who could yet save Steve Gibson a fortune.

“If Alves is worth £12m what’s he worth,” pondered one of the faithful, but then accepted that Alves doesn’t usually play against Stokesley SC.

Though the local evening paper talked of the “last stand” – they meant Aston Villa, not Stokesley – most appear long-resigned to relegation, and with the consolation claimed by all who now drop to the Championship. “At least we get to have a night in Blackpool.”

ON the occasion of his 74th birthday, big Jack Charlton spoke – entertainingly, and for 50 minutes – at Trimdon United Juniors annual dinner.

All who’ve heard Jack will recall that, as Ireland manager, he had an audience with the Pope – or Purp, as the big man calls him, for he’s an Ashington lad, too.

Fewer will know that he had an audience with the present Vatican incumbent just a couple of months ago.

“I may be the only English George Anglican ever to have had two meetings with the Purp,” he said.

It’s not known if they gave him a birthday cake. Ever hospitable, Trimdon United did, both candles extinguished at one go.

MORE realism than pessimism, perhaps, Darlington fans have been studying the Northern League second division. “It’s all right apart from Whitehaven, and that seems almost impossible to do by train,” says a non-driving regular.

Whitehaven’s on the Cumbrian coast, the nearest station to the ground a littleused place called Corkickle about ten minutes walk away.

Getting there’s no problem – 8.15am from Darlington, change at Newcastle and Carlisle, arrive in time for a beer at 12.56 – returning rather trickier.

The last Saturday train by which it’s possible to reach Darlington leaves Corkickle at 4.51pm. “It’s worrying,” admits our man, “whatever the competition, you don’t want to miss a minute of Darlo.”

LAST Saturday’s column mentioned that football nut Ken Shaw planned to take in three finals while in the south for the Whitley Bay match.

There was the Saturday’s Trophy and Sunday’s Vase, of course, but not the Brighton Charity Cup, Chichester City v Shoreham, on Friday evening as planned.

It was called off after officials discovered that Chichester had for several months been playing an alleged wrong ‘un. “Cup final axed as City stand trial,” said the headline in the Chichester Observer.

Undaunted, the redoubtable Mr Shaw – Sunderland lad – found the London Commercial League Open Cup final between Aston Athletic and Sporting Hackney at North Greenford FC.

“Whitley Bay was best,” he insists.

How the Little Battleaxe took them all on – and won

BARELY nine-years-old, already a first-dan black belt, Georgia O’Connor has just won her second successive British taekwondo championship.

We’d written of the lass they call the Little Battleaxe in November 2007, shortly before the first title.

“Georgia is amazing. She’s never been known to shy off anyone but she’s only a child,” Graham Thompson, her trainer, had said.

The difficulty, added Graham, would be when she discovered boys.

John, her dad, insists that that would be fine by him.

“As long as she’s enjoying it, that’s all that matters. If she wants to do flower arranging, that’s fine.”

The family lives at Waterhouses, west of Durham. Georgia won the “Most promising new talent” accolade at last year’s Local Heroes awards.

She’d started training as a five-year-old, boxing pads initially, in the family’s converted garage. Now, however, she travels two or three times a week for special training in Doncaster.

At the British championships in Manchester her gold medal in the pee-wee class – 11 and under – was presented by Sarah Stephenson, who won taekwondo bronze in the Beijing Olympics.

George’s discipline is chungdokwan, a full-contact sport with no punches pulled. “She hammered both her opponents in the final,” says John, briefly an amateur boxer himself.

The London Olympics will come too early for her, though she could have a fighting chance in 2016.

“We don’t look that far ahead,” insists her dad.

“She’s not really what you’d call a girly girl and she’s growing up fast, but she’s still only nine years old.

We’ll wait until she discovers those boys.

Down Wembley way

AFTER Whitley Bay first footed, the second North- East team at the new Wembley prepares to take centre stage: Sunderland primary schools FA will be there on June 13.

“In a season of doom and gloom for the big three, at least there’s a success story for the little ‘uns,” says Chris Linstedt, the association’s treasurer.

The “treasurer” bit’s important. First they need to find £3,500.

It’s a seven-a-side squad who’ll be at Wembley, playing before the England v France schools international. To get there, they won the Co Durham competition without conceding a goal, qualified for the northern section semi-finals on goal difference and beat North Tyneside and Wigan to follow the Bay.

The cost covers hotel and coach hire. “We’re not looking for anyone to put up large amounts of money, but if we could get 25 local businessmen to donate £100 it would allow the boys to have a fantastic weekend,” says Chris.

“If any coach firm would like to help, it would greatly reduce the cost of the whole thing.”

He’s on 07875-361023 or chris1967@btinternet.com NOW in Thailand, former Gateshead goalkeeper and Durham County Cricket League sponsor George Alberts was listening to the Whitley Bay match on BBC Radio Newcastle – “amazing what they can do” – when the reception went.

It wasn’t the BBC’s fault.

Though last week’s column noted that it’s four-men Wembley crew was travelling there and back in a Peugeot 206, the strength was increased to six and the transport to a people carrier.

George had also turned in to the live broadcast of Gateshead’s victorious Conference North play-off final. “I’m not sure how many would be listening in Gateshead, but at least there was me in Thailand.”

Kicked off Whitley’s wavelength, he emails here instead. Gateshead Schools Under 13s are playing Northampton at St James’ Park at 10am tomorrow in the final of the English schools championship.

A great occasion, no doubt, but these days almost anyone can play at St James’s.

An ad in the Northumberland Senior Cup final programme – “Be just like the professionals” – informs that the “hallowed turf” is available to 15-member squads for “just” £999.

AND FINALLY...

AMID these finals thoughts, the North-East born former Premiership player who’s now manager of Ferencvaros in Hungary (Backtrack, May 12) is South Shields lad Bobby Davison. Though his only previous managerial experience was with Guiseley, he’s just steered the Hungarians back to the top division.

Back to Stokesley, readers may today care to name the two “Durham” sides who’ve won the North Riding Senior Cup.

The column returns on May 26.