Sunday 22nd November 2015

TWO SENT OFF, BUT SENIORS HOLD FIRM TO SEND HOUGHTON WILD BOAR SPIRALLING OUT OF GUARDS CUP

Durham County Seniors held on with nine men to knock Houghton Wild Boar All-Stars out of the JD Taxis Guards Cup.Boar opened the scoring, sparking a frenetic first half which ended 3-3.County went 4-3 up in the second period before having two players (Kieran Bowes and keeper David Pritchard) sent off – one for a rash tackle and another for foul language to­wards the referee.Despite Boar having the ma­jority of possession, they were unable to create any good goal­scoring opportunities.Star man Dan Johnston, Shaun Corner and Craig Fletcher netted for Houghton.Two clinical close-range fin­ishes by Josh Gregory led the way for County, backed by an improvised back-heeled efford from substitute John West and a headed own goal. Adam Birks was their star man.Langley Park deservedly edged past Ushaw Moor Crick­et Club, impressively dominat­ing from start to finish.They relied on a single goal to win the tie, though, Mike Barker netting 15 minutes from time. Ushaw Moor de­fended well, restricting the hosts to largely long-range ef­forts, and they managed to hit the post in on of their raids.Simon Moralee starred for Langley, with Michael Abson best for Ushaw.Hetton New Inn went down 5-1 to an impressive, young Chester Garden Farm side in their Stepy’s Coaches Presi­dent’s Trophy third round tie.Keith Finch’s ‘dragged ‘ penalty pulled battling Het­ton back to 2-1, but a couple of well-taken goals killed them off. Star man Ryan Johnson (2), Bailey Hunter, Dan Johnson and David Walsh all notched for Garden Farm.Keeper David Hartill was outstanding for New Inn.Pelton Crown lost 2-1 to Dur­ham County in an excellent tie.Despite difficult conditions, both teams played good foot­ball. Two Jack Carr goals gave Durham the win, with Kris Lawton replying. Steven Shaw shone for Pelton, with Bradley Hird best for County.Bishop Middleham felt hard done to in their 6-0 defeat at Ferryhill Celtic, believing the scoreline was harsh against a battling visiting side who started with 10 men.Bishop, with Philip Best starring, caused plenty of problems but fell behind against the run of play, and never really recovered.John Makepeace scored the opener, after a neat one-two, then Shane Todd rounded the keeper to net the second, after a goal kick was flicked on.In the second half, man of the match Jason White was given too much room and he ran the show as Todd, Luke Thompson (2) and sub Andrew Agar completed the scoring.Newton Aycliffe WMC pro­gressed in the FA Sunday Cup, coming through a tough tie against Liverpool side Garston. They won 4-2 on pen­alties after a 1-1 draw and will be at home in the third round against Northumberland out­fit Burradon and New Fordley on December 13.Sedgefield St Edmund’s pummeled battling visitors Ouston Juniors 6-1 in the Bishop Auckland Heart Foun­dation Cup, with Matthew Mc­Adam firing the consolation.Burnside WMC outgunned Quarrington Hill WMC 5-0 in a very one-sided Third Division contest, and they could have won by an even bigger margin.First-half goals from Craig Ellison and Max Stoker sent Burnside WMC into cruise control. A second from Elli­son, followed by a double from Kris Jobling, finished the game comfortably.

Houghton got back to win­ning ways, squeezing past Chester-le-Street AFC in a 2-1 away victory.

A hard-fought game in aw­ful conditions saw Houghton take a two-goal lead, thanks to Danny Grant’s long-range ef­fort and a well-worked Andy Brooke goal.

Chester pulled one back a minute from half-time. The second half brought no more goals but was dominated by Houghton for long periods.Dubmire WMC cruised to an 11-0 victory over luckless High Shincliffe Avenue, who started with 10 men and had a player sent off early on when they felt a booking would have sufficed.Hilda Park and Pelaw Grange Dogs shared the spoils in an entertaining Premier Di­vision derby which ended 3-3.Hilda took the lead after just 55 seconds, with a free kick floated in for Marc Smith to head home.

Aaron Sheriff followed suit to place his set piece past the Dogs keeper to make it 2-0, though Pelaw pulled one back within a couple of minutes.

The visitors ran through the Hilda defence to equalise in the second half.

Hilda restored their lead when Max Moss was brought down in the penalty box and Chris Duke converted from the spot, but again Pelaw hit back to level. Pelaw keeper Jordan Stevens was man of the match, keeping out at least seven clear-cut chances.

Chilton WMC came from be­hind to outgun Chester Britan­nia 8-1.

Britannia took the lead af­ter some sloppy defending from Chilton early on, but the visitors pulled themselves to­gether to take a 3-1 lead into half-time, before taking total control on the restart.

Kyle Wren and Kieran Har­nett both struck twice, backed by Nicky Pickford, Vinny Gash, David Harrison and Gary Shaw, with Michael Searby man of the match.

Brandon Sports Club made the most of their chances to get the better of Sacriston WMC, winning a close-fought clash 2-0.Sacriston had the better of the early exchanges without creating any clear chances. In the end, a flicked header from Andrew Morris and a cool fin­ish from star man David Fort decided the game.

New Brancepeth WMC re­covered from three goals down to secure a thrilling 6-4 First Division win over second-top Waldridge Park.Waldridge started brilliant­ly, going 3-0 up, only for the hosts to grab two back by half-time and then go ahead in the second period. Park hit back at 5-4, but the home side grabbed the crucial, decisive 10th goal.Chris Days fired a hat-trick for Waldridge, with Adam Campbell Bell also notcjhing.

Star man Anthony Hol­liday’s treble steered Bran­cepeth home, helped by efforts from Omar Moustafa, Michael Crooks and Adam Purvis.Whitehills turned in a good performance to outgun an im­proving Chester Park Inn side 5-0 in their derby.

Doubles from star man Chris Savage and Ryan Gray­son led the way, backed by a strike from captain Stephen Fisher. Michael Jones stood out for Park Inn.

Coxhoe Red Lion were left hanging on to claim victory over West Rainton, who fought back gamely from a four-goal deficit.

In a game of two halves, Cox­hoe dominated the first peri­od, scoring three goals without reply. Keeper Tom Orton made some fine saves to keep Rain­ton at bay, and the tie looked over when Coxhoe hit a fourth in the second half, but Rainton showed tremendous character to rally strongly, firing three goals to leave the hosts on edge before the final whistle.

Sub Jordan Stannard hit a hat-trick for Lion, with star man Michael Oughton also on target.

High Handenhold Bird Inn drew 5-5 with Pittington in an epic Second Division clash.

Bird felt their passing was terrible and let the visitors back into the game. Marc Wood (2), Shane Swift, Thomas Illingworth and Dan Watkins all netted for Bird.

ert Travellers Rest contin­ued their good run of form with another decent performance in a 3-2 Fourth Division win at Newton Hall Jovial Monk.

After a strong start from Witton, Monk took the lead against the run of play, but the visitors quickly equalised with a good finish from early sub Dan Cooke.

Monk attacked more in the second half, but a stunning 25-yarder from David Lumley put the visitors ahead. Monk levelled on 80 minutes, when a cross hit the bar and landed straight at the feet of the striker, who finished from close range.

Witton continued to push for a winner and grabbed it when a corner was met with a bullet header from man of the match Gavin McCormack.

Bowburn pipped Bearpark 4-3

Bearpark opened the scor­ing before Andrew Robin­son levelled, but the visitors stormed 3-1 up by half-time.

Bowburn, with Adam Kirk starring, took control in the second half, with Daniel Crisp pulling a goal back and Sean McGrail levelling from the penalty spot. Edward Carr then hit a 77th-minute winner.