Report

Well that was a tough one – 2 nil down and we claw it back to 2-2 and then lose it with 20 seconds to go!

Firstly we must congratulate Ouston Juniors on their title win as they have almost won the League title in the last few seasons but their Christmas Party excesses have previously hindered their ultimate success – not this time though!

I know we are all collectively really pleased for Ouston as they are a really good football club with great kids and parents and their Managers Kevin Stone and Mo Stephenson are proper football people.

Conor Goulding  (ex-County big lad who played no. 5 with a quif which he must have inherited from his Mum as Mick his Dad has a very long face!) also plays for them and he had a great game yesterday – so pleased for him and his family – one of the nicest families we have had the pleasure of enjoying football with at Durham County.

Some of you may remember our first game of the season away at SAFC when our “loveable rogue” Anthony very kindly arranged a minute's silence – this was in the memory of Kevin’s Dad Jack Stone who sadly passed away very quickly last year.

I had the pleasure of chatting to Jack several times on the touchline over the years and he was an absolute gentleman and football daft – my memory of him is still that he always me feel really special even when I called him even when he was away on business in Asia at 2AM in the morning!

Jack is a great miss to football and especially at Ouston but he will be smiling now I am sure, with a League title on his sideboard upstairs.

So onto the match!

Ouston took an early lead with a “fizzer” from their skipper Scott McArdle from the edge of the box and then went 2-0 ahead with a free-header on the back stick from a corner on the far post scored by big Kieran Day.

County recovered well and in the second period we played much better football and two great strikes from Joseph Russell set up a great finish to the game.

County continued to press until the end and with 20 seconds to go Ouston grabbed a late winner to steal the points.

As ever it was a great game against Ouston – putting aside our away defeat this season we always enjoy a close battle with them.

Man of the Match selected by Ouston parent Mick Goulding was awarded to Kieran Hurton who had a really good game in midfield battling with Mick’s lad Conor.

A point would have been a fair result and County can be proud to have given the League Champions a good run for the money.

So that concludes another season of football and all things considered we have had a good season and competed better than any of us would have predicted this time last year.

The boys have all done really well and can be proud of their efforts and I genuinely feel this is the strongest squad we have had to date and more importantly we have a great bunch of lads who enjoy playing football together.

I should put on record on behalf of all of us a massive thank you to Alan Gray who has done a fantastic job this season leading from the front and his enthusiasm for the game is amazing and he has developed an amazing rapport with our boys.

I should add that although people may not agree with all of the football decisions all of the time and it is easy to express opinions from our own hilltop on the sidelines – but there are not many with the courage, capability and commitment to actually stand forward and commit to lead our boys in the RFYL.

Alan is delighted with our progress this season and we can all now look forward to our Annual Awards presentation at Esh Winning FC on Saturday 9^th June and our now infamous end of season trip away in tents – Ripon’s loss is Flamingoland’s gain.

At the request of the boys on Sunday training will continue for now but we will take a break for a few weeks shortly when the boys want to rest their legs.

Sincere thanks to everybody for your time, effort, tolerance and commitment this season.

Well done everybody!