Darlington Wearside Youth under 13s 3 Silksworth Under 13s 1

Darlington started this game knowing a draw would see them being outright winners of the Russell Foster U13 (Sunday) Premier League. However having not lost a game all season the team were obviously looking to keep their 100% record.

Darlington started as they meant to go on with a lively start from the kick off and on two minutes Dominic Agnew collected the ball on the right of the field and passed to midfield where Finn Illingworth crossed the ball to the left. Daren Robertson watched and chose his time to make a run into the Silksworth box and passed the ball to Jamie Gibson who shot just wide.

On six minutes Jaxon Briggs collected the ball on the left side of mid-field and passed down the line to Daren Robertson who rounded the defender to get to the byline, Robertson checked back and passed the ball to the advancing Briggs. Briggs shot was saved by the Silksworth keeper.

On ten minutes Finn Illingworth passed to Jamie Gibson who cut back inside the box and passed to Briggs who again laid up Robertson. Robertson again shot wide.

Again on fifteen minutes Briggs sent the ball to Gibson who crossed from the right into the box for Tommy Hunt to shoot which was again saved by the keeper.

On twenty minutes the Silksworth keeper was again called upon to make another save from Daren Robertson.

Such was the control the Darlington team were taking of this game it was not until twenty three minutes that the Silksworth team had an attempt into the Darlington box. This time Lucas Reed made a great tackle and took the ball off a Silksworth forward. Reed passed the ball back to goal keeper Alex Bates who passed across the pitch to Daren Robertson who started another Darlington attack. Robertson passed a long ball down to the right side to Jamie Gibson who held the ball up whilst Robertson raced forward to collect the return ball. Robertson's shot was deflected by a defender for a corner. The corner was sent high into the Silksworth goal mouth and Dominic Agnew headed the ball goal wards. However this was again cleared by a defender but sent straight back into the Silksworth box and knocked out for another corner. The corner was taken by Agnew but went over the head of Jaxon Briggs.

On twenty five minutes Lucas Reed sent a pass through the centre of the field and this was kicked by the goal keeper but only as far as Thomas Fletcher who passed the ball forward to Daren Robertson. Robertson took the ball just to the right of the Silksworth goal and from an acute angle shot into the Silksworth goal.

Darlington Wearside Youth U13 1 - Silksworth Juniors U13 0.

On twenty eight minutes a corner taken by Jaxon Briggs was sent high into the Silksworth box. Daren Robertson got his head to the ball and the ball was going goal wards, only to be cleared off the line by a Silksworth defender.

On thirty four minutes the ball was collected by a Silksworth player just inside their half of the field. The Silksworth player gave a 'punt' into the Darlington half and the ball gave an awkward bounce for the Darlington defender. The Darlington defender attempted to pass the ball back to the keeper but the pass back was a little weak and this saw a Silksworth forward chasing a 50/50 ball into the Darlington box. The Darlington keeper arrived a split second before the Silksworth player and his kick rebounded off the Silksworth forward who continued his forward run and only needed to tap the ball into the net.

Darlington Wearside Youth U13 1 - Silksworth Juniors U13 1.

This proved to be the last play of the first half and both teams went into the break 1 - 1.

It may be noted that in the first 35 minutes the Darlington team had seventeen attempts at the Silksworth goal, such was their dominance.

The second half saw much the same action as the first although the Silksworth team were a little more fired up and chased the ball more than they did in the first half.

On 38 minutes after a play which started with the Darlington keeper to the defence, to the mid-field which saw Darlington's Dominic Agnew 'dance' his way to the edge of the Silksworthbox only to be fouled. The resulting free kick was shot over the bar by Lucas Reed.

On 40 minutes a Silksworth player 'stole' the ball on the byline and he passed in field where another player shot from twenty yards out. This shot went just wide of goal. This was a reminder that they were still in this game.

By this time the Darlington team were showing the effects of playing a hard County Cup final (and some players Saturday games). Coach Daren Robertson urged the players to 'dig deep' and keep producing the skills they have become known for.

The team responded to this and in the next fifteen minutes we saw another nine attempts at the Silksworth goal with not one shot in return.

On fifty nine minutes with Silksworth soaking up a lot of Darlington pressure this saw Dominic Agnew make a charge to the Silksworth by line. Agnew passed to Jaxon Briggs who made a short pass to Tommy Hunt. This pass was intercepted by a foot out by a defender and the ball went off for a corner kick. The corner was sent high into the goal mouth and Finn Illingworth rose high above everyone else on the pitch and produced a clinical header into the Silksworth goal.

Darlington Wearside Youth U13 2 - Silksworth Juniors U13 1.

Darlington continued to dominate the game but to give credit to the Silksworth team they 'niggled', were quick to close down, stuck the foot in and appeared to have a belief that they could get something out of the game.

Although tired, the Darlington team stuck to their usual game plan and on sixty four minutes it required a great diving save from the Silksworth goal keeper to deny Tommy Hunt.

On sixty nine minutes this persistence again paid off when Daren Robertson took the ball into the Silksworth box and again saw a good save from the keeper, however the ball rebounded off the keeper's body to the feet of Tommy Hunt who made no mistake and put the ball into the net.

The game ended on seventy minutes Darlington Wearside Youth U13 3 - Silksworth Juniors U13 1.

This was a hard fought game considering that there were some 'tired legs' out on the pitch today.

Tired or not, the team produced their usual standard of play. Which saw a total of thirty two shots at the Silksworth goal, three of which went into the net.

This result now means the Darlington Wearside Youth U13 have won the Russell Foster U13 (Sunday) Premier league outright with still two games to play.

They have also won the Russell Foster League cup and the Durham County cup.