Darlington Under 18s 4 Ryhope Under 18s 1

Darlington started slowly and the visitors pressed well off the ball and countered with pace.

Ryhope’s centre forward constantly caused Darlington problems finding himself in behind regularly.

The pressure from the visitors resulted in a deserved early goal, the centre forward again found himself in behind from a long ball, he shrugged off two tackles and neatly slotted home. Ryhope continued to add pressure by hitting the bar from outside the box and going close with a header which was saved by Carl Robinson.

The Under 18s levelled soon after half time when a good passage of play meant Lewis Rees found himself 1 on 1 with the keeper whom he rounded and finished off.

The home side continued to press and create constant opportunities but it was a delivery from a Nathan Stephenson free kick which found Alex Nelson unmarked in the box to volley home.

Jordan Lee delivered a cracking left foot shot from the outside of the box soon after which rattled the crossbar.

The home side were the better team in the second half and got a deserved third goal when Lewis Rees again rounded the keeper with ease and put the ball into the empty net.

Lewis Walton finished off the scoring with five minutes to go with an outstanding solo goal which started from deep in his own half, and he took the ball past five opponents and neatly finished.

Manager Andrew Jinks said; “It was a game of two halves. The visitors caused us a lot of problems early in the game. They were quick and had some quality players but our lads quickly managed them well.

“In the second half we played some good quality football and the midfield trio were excellent. Alex Nelson was our man of the match , his pace got us out of a lot of problems.”