Darlington Spraire Lads 0 Darlington Youth Wearside Under 13s 1

The Darlington team showed they were the better team during the first 10 minutes with the defence of Jaxon Briggs, Thomas Naisbett and Kieron Devlin standing firm and passing the ball into the Spraire Lads half which had the Spraire Lads knowing they were in a game.

On 2 minutes a corner by Dom Agnew saw the ball rebound off the Spraire Lads bar. On 3 minutes Jaxon Briggs had his first shot which let the Spraire Lads goal keeper know he was in for a game. However, as per their reputation the Spraire Lads were quick to the tackle which did not give the Darlington team much chance to adopt their regular short, sharp passing game and the Darlington team showed their adaptability by giving as good as they got ( and more).

This was rewarded on 13 minutes when the Darlington team had another corner to the right of the Spraire Lads goal. The corner was taken by Ryan Smirthwaite who 'curled' the ball into the near post. The ball was struck with enough power that the Spraire Lads keeper failed to hold onto the ball and it went into the goal without another Darlington player needing to touch it. Darlington Wearside Youth U13 1 - Spraire Lads 0.

On 16 minutes the ball again found itself at the feet of Darlington's Jaxon Briggs who this time gave the keeper no chance. However this goal was adjudged to be off-side. The score remained 1 - 0.

Although the Darlington team were the better side it was obvious they were showing the Spraire Lads some respect as there appeared to be some nervous touches which produced some uncharacteristic loose passing but again the Darlington defence stood firm and restricted the Spraire Lads to very few attacks into the Darlington box. The Spraire Lads game play seemed to be to pass the ball to their right wing to a very tall right winger and, although he was giving some two or three inches in height Darlington's Jaxon Briggs had a physical game on his hands which he handled well. The game ended at half time: Darlington Wearside Youth 1 - Spraire Lads A 0.

On the re- start the Darlington team started as they ended the first half and within the first three minutes of the re- start they had four shots at goal. The Spraire Lads upped the physical level of the game and the Darlington team reciprocated in kind. Both teams knew they were in a physical encounter. On 41 minutes Darlington's Darren Robbertson was fouled inside the Spraire Lads box and Darlington was awarded a penalty. The penalty was taken by Darlington's number 6 who sent the ball skywards. The score remained at 1 - 0.

The game continued with some excursions into the Darlington box by the Spraire Lads but these were successfully contained by the Darlington defence of Naisbett, Briggs and Devlin aided by the mid-field of Fletcher, Dodds and Illingworth. On 61 minutes the ball was crossed into the box towards the lone Spraire Lads right winger who rose above Darlington's Briggs and got his head to the ball. However the approaching Darlington keeper was also challenging for the ball and the keeper and number 8 clashed and both ended on the ground. Luckily the ball hit the Darlington's upright and was safely collected into the hands of the Darlington keeper who held onto the ball and both players remained on the ground. The referee assessed that no one player was at fault and restarted the game with a drop ball to the Darlington keeper. This proved to be the final major attack to either goal and the game ended Darlington Wearside Youths U13 1 - Spraire Lads A U13 0.

This was a very physical game as expected. The sheer physical side of the Spraire Lads tactics denied the Darlington team playing their usual short, sharp passing game. However the Darlington team showed that they could adapt and give as good as they got and the 1 - 0 score could have been more as Darlington were the better team overall on the day. Job done and this means that Darlington Wearside Youth U13 now meet the Darlington Quakers U13 in the county cup final.