Darlington Under 13s Wearside 6 Stockton Town Yellows 4

Darlington Under 13s Wearside are through to the semi final of the Durham County Cup – making it two Darlington Under 13 sides through to the semi finals.

The match kicked off with the Stockton team producing a fast and explosive 4 minutes. However the Darlington team soon found their pace and sustained the initial burst and were rewarded on 7 minutes with a powerful shot at goal from Tomas Hunt which went well over the goal. The team was then rewarded with a free kick to the right side of the Stockton box which was neatly slotted home by the taker Jackson Briggs. Darlington 1, Stockton nil.

The Stockton team continued with some spasmodic attacks which were contained by some strong defensive work by Thomas Naisbet and Kieron Devlin. However on 24 minutes the Stockton forward line produced a telling lob over the Darlington defence which again went over the head of the Darlington goal keeper. Darlington 1, Stockton 1.

Again this was met with a strong push by the Darlington forwards and this resulted in another free kick on the edge of the Stockton box which again found the back of the Stockton net after a powerful shot by Jackson Briggs. Darlington 2, Stockton 1.

Darlington continued to press forward with most of the play and again were rewarded with a goal in open play which resulted in a hat-rick by Jackson Briggs which proved to be the final kick of the first half. Darlington went into the break a healthy 3 – 1 to the good.

The second half started much the same as the first half with Stockton pushing forward which resulted in a Stockton free kick on the edge of the Darlington box which was too strong for the Darlington keeper to hold which reduced the deficit to Darlington 3, Stockton 2.

The score line was again increased two minutes later with a goal line scramble on the Stockton goal which saw Darlington’s Finn Illingworth slot home the team’s fourth goal. Darlington 4, Stockton 2.

The Darlington dominance again showed results four minutes later with another goal, this time from Kieron Wakefield. Darlington 5, Stockton 2.

However, showing some persistence the Stockton team displayed one of their few bursts towards the Darlington goal which had the Stockton forwards and Darlington defence all chasing the ball towards the Darlington box. The Darlington goal keeper attempted an interception which resulted in a Stockton forward winning the ‘race’ and producing perhaps the goal of the day which was a very strong, accurate lob over the Darlington keeper from 20 yards. Darlington 5, Stockton 3.

Darlington again dominated the play with some very good work from Ryan Smithwait on the right wing and were rewarded with their 6^th goal scored by Dom Agnew. Darlington 6, Stockton 3.

Stockton ended the match with a late goal which proved to be the final goal of the day with the result being Darlington 6 – Stockton 4.