Silksworth CW progress into third cup final of season

A first-half header from Josh Perry was enough to see off Hartlepool FC and send Crew’s side into the final of the Monkwearmouth Charity Cup.

The win sets up a thrilling end to the campaign as Silksworth will feature in the finals of the Durham Trophy, Total Sport Alan Hood Charity Cup and now, the Monkwearmouth Charity Cup.

“We are delighted to be in this position,” explained Crew.

“I really don’t know what to say, other than it’s testament to all of the hard work from players, management and committee.

“It was a scrappy game, but we showed lots of togetherness to get through.

“It was stop-start, we had chances, they had chances, but we did our jobs very well and stuck at it.”

Brian Norton was in inspired form as his hat-trick helped Sunderland West End to a comfortable 3-0 win at Darlington RA.

The win moves Anthony Nelson’s side to within one point of the top of the table, although new leaders Hebburn Town Reserves hold two games in hand over West End.

The Hornets took full advantage of Wolviston’s surprise defeat at Darlington Town and ended the weekend at the summit of the table with a 1-0 win at Horden CW.

A Shaun Reay penalty was all it took for the Hornets to claim maximum points, but Horden assistant manager Lee Bogan was left to rue a questionable decision by the match officials.

He said: “We dominated the final half-hour and we were creating chance after chance.

“The referee gave a controversial penalty late on and that saw them win the game.

“He admitted after the game that he made a mistake, but that’s of little consolation to us.

“But we were proud of how we performed against a very good Hebburn side.”

A Lewis Martin brace and a Nathan Stephenson strike helped Darlington Town recover from Mark Lilley’s early goal to claim a shock 3-1 win against Wolviston.

Ben Darville and Adam Emson were on target as Richmond Town fought their way to a 2-1 win at top-four contenders Harton and Westoe CW.

Boldon CA continued their impressive form with a 4-2 win at struggling Coxhoe Athletic.

The hosts took a 2-1 lead into half-time as Phil Hayes and Dagan Taylor found the net to cancel out an early penalty from Dominic Solman.

Solman got Boldon back level on the hour-mark and they secure a win with further goals from Alex Lovatt and Reece Blakey.

Boldon manager John Pressling hailed his side for their best performance of his interim spell in charge of the club.

He said: “We fully deserved our win.

“We totally dominated the first-half, created chance-after-chance, but somehow found ourselves a goal down at half-time.

“We dominated the second-half too and if we had scored seven or eight it wouldn’t have flattered us.

“It was certainly the best football that I have seen us play since I took over.”

Will Preston, Jamie Whitworth, Daniel Pigg, Liam Blighe and Glenn Hendrix were all on target in West Auckland Tunns’ 5-1 win at Windscale and Gateshead Leam Rangers made light of having ten men for over half an hour to claim a 3-0 win at Annfield Plain.