Knoplaw a class act in city finals
NEWCASTLE Schools hosted their Under-Nine Finals Tournament at Gosforth Academy.
All six participating teams had come through qualifying rounds.
This year’s event was played as a round-robin tournament with all six qualifiers playing each other.
Knoplaw took an early lead in the group, beating St Mark’s 2-0, while the other two games were drawn 1-1.
Knoplaw extended their lead at the top with a victory over Kingston Park, while Dame Allan’s defeated St Mark’s 1-0 and Farne beat Regent Farm 2-1 to go into joint second place.
Knoplaw maintained their winning ways by overcoming Regent Farm 3-0.
Dame Allan’s clung on to the chances of winning overall by seeing off Kingston Park 5-1 but Farne slipped up 2-1 against St Mark’s.
Knoplaw set themselves up for a last-game decider by accounting for Farne 3-0.
Dame Allan’s overcame Regent Farm 2-0.
Both Regent Farm and Kingston Park won their first matches against St Mark’s and Farne respectively.
Those results meant St Mark’s, Farne and Regent Farm all finished in joint fourth position and Kingston Park in third.
The last game would decide the destination of the trophy.
Dame Allan’s had to win and Knoplaw only needed a draw to take the title.
In the end Knoplaw maintained their 100% record by beating Dame Allan’s 2-1.
THE latest round of fixtures for the Durham Under-11 Girls’ Inter Association were played at Sunderland;s Farringdon School.
Sunderland and Newcastle went into the stage level at the top.
They maintained their positions after the first games of the night, Newcastle defeating East Northumberland A 3-0 and Sunderland disposing of North Tyneside B 4-0.
This set up an intriguing clash between the top two.
They had drawn 1-1 in an earlier league game and this one was to prove just as tight.
The first half produced very few chances, Freya Stark pulling off a great save in the Newcastle goal.
Abbie Armstrong went close for Newcastle when she was on the end of a Chloe Paxton long throw.
The second half was played in a similar vein with both defences being on top.
It was Evie Purvis who went the closest to opening the scoring when her speculative shot from distance hit the bar.
Newcastle survived a goalmouth scramble - and then with time just about up struck the killer blow.
A long ball from Paxton found Niamh Boothroyd in space and her shot was pushed on to the bar - but Purvis was on hand to prod the ball home and put her side in top spot.