Here's a round up of how our youth teams fared last weekend in the Russell Foster Youth League, Junior Premier League and Teesside Junior Football Alliance League.

Because of FA rules, we're unable to publish the results of any matches involving Under 11s and below.

Saturday 2nd April 2022:

RFYL Girls U11 Cup 

Darlington FC Vs. Leam Rangers FC

POTM: Xienna French 

Team Coach Mick Walton said; "Darlington faced a Leam side who had just come off the back of winning their league last season. We started quickly, with some calm passing & desire to press up the pitch to not let the opposition settle. It wasn’t long before we grabbed a few goals to go in at half time ahead. Second half we came back out and stepped it up grabbing a few more goals. A good all round performance from the girls today in some very changeable weather conditions. We remain unbeaten in the cup competition and go again on Wednesday night".

RFYL Girls U16 Cup

Darlington FC 4-3 Washington AFC Lionesses 

Goalscorers: Brooke G, Nicole G (3)

Team Coach Scott Buckton said; "The girls went into today's tough test on the back of a heavy defeat, but we started strong and struck first! A hard first half and lots of goals saw Darlington go behind twice in the first half and end up 3-2 down at halftime. The second half was just as competitive, with end to end action throughout. With ten minutes left in the game, our girls found a second wind and dug deep to grab equaliser. With a minute remaining in the game, a wonderfully well worked goal saw us seal the victory".

RFYL Boys U7 League:

Darlington FC Vs. Leam Rangers FC

Goalscorers: Henry (3) & Dillon (3)

Team Coach Chris Fenwick said; "Darlington started the game well but found themselves 1-0 down early on. Two goals from Henry after great work from Olly put us in front before Leam levelled making it all square at halftime. The 2nd half was more comfortable and great team play meant four unanswered goals including a 2nd half hatrick from Dillon. A strong performance from all the boys".

RFYL Boys U9 Premier Division: 

Darlington FC Vs. Sunderland Rokerites FC

Goalscorers: Laiton Fleming, Noah Powton (2), Finley Childs & Isaac Tonge (2)

Team Coach Sam Pascoe said; "Today saw the boys face up against newly promoted Sunderland Rokerites. Sunderland Rokerites started the game on top, dominating possession and pressing the ball well well to not let our boys settle on the ball. Despite this, the boys soaked up the pressure well and took the lead through Laiton Fleming with a great strike from distance into the bottom corner. The goal seemed to settle the lads and they kicked on adding another 3 goals before half time to go in 4-0 up at the break. The second half started similar to the first, with Sunderland Dominating possession, but credit to our lads for keeping their shape well. Sunderland did manage to get a goal back into a game from a corner to make the score 4-1. The boys kicked on from this, and scored two great well worked team goals to kill the game off and come away as convincing winners. A massive well done to debutant Noah Powton today who added a lot of energy into our team, topped off with 2 goals and an assist".

JPL Boys U13 League: 

Darlington FC Academy 5-0 Doncaster Elite FC

Goalscorers: Ryder Maughan (2), Cody Hutton & Niall Armstrong (2)

Darlington FC Academy 2-1 Doncaster Elite FC

Goalscorers: Cody Hutton & Kane Hegarty

Team Coach Lee Hutton said; "I'm very proud of this talented bunch today. We had two games today against Doncaster as a result of a back log of fixtures. With that said, we had to win both games to finish joint top of the league with Scunthorpe and we did just that. In the first game, we played some exceptional football which saw us come away as convincing winners. The second game was much more tightly contested, but we secured the win to finish joint top in the league".

JPL Boys U14 League:

Hawkes 360 FC 1-2 Darlington FC

Goalscorers: Leon Griffiths & Finley Devine

POTM: Kalvin Friend

Team Coach Michael Eggleston said; "An exciting game with both teams creating chances, but both keepers were in outstanding form. We finally broke the deadlock with 15 minutes to go, and added a second soon after. Hawkes pulled one back with 5 minutes left, but we held on and now progress into the National Cup. So proud of these talented bunch of players".

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Sunday 3rd April 2022:

TJFA Boys U8 Red Division:

Cleveland Juniors FC Vs. Darlington FC 

Goalscorers: Edward Harrison (2), Lee Gilbertson (2) & Zach Lyons

Team Coach Nick Lyons said; "A solid display from the boys who played some great football. Really good to see the boys developing and implementing the things we have been doing in training".

TJFA Boys U9 Red Division: 

Boro Rangers Whites Vs. Darlington FC Development 

Goalscorers: Finley Childs (3), Jude Nicholson, Isaac Tonge & Jake Johnson

Team Coach Lee Childs said; "A great result today for the boys against a very good Boro Rangers team. Both teams played some very nice football today and in the end it was our quality and determination that won us the game. The match was end to end throughout the first half, and we scored two goals with our first two real chances. Charlie Reay made some great saves In between the two goals which gave us a foundation to build on. After the second goal we took control of the match but the boys just ran out of steam a little in the last 5-10 minutes conceding a couple of soft goals. All in all a brilliant week for the boys, giving Newcastle’s u8s a great test earlier in the week and then two very good results this weekend".

TJFA Boys U9 Blue Division: 

Stockton & Norton FC Vs. Darlington FC Foundation

POTM: Jos & Noah

Team Coach Chris Blewitt said; "A very difficult result to take after being the dominant team for 90% of the game, however a great lesson for the boys to learn in that you have to give 100% until the final whistle blows. Norton took an early lead against the run of play with a direct ball that squirmed its way through to a striker who was left with an easy finish. Darlington responded well and were level straight from the restart with Jos picking the ball up deep and driving beyond the defence before squaring the ball past the keeper to James for a simple tap in. James then returned the favour with some smart work out wide, rolling the ball across the box to Jos for a first time finish in to the bottom corner. The 2nd half started as the 1st had finished and Noah got himself on the scoresheet with the pick of the goals. After winning the ball in the left back area he went on a trade mark slaloming run, beating 3 players before rolling the ball past the goalkeeper. The final Darlington goal came in the same format as the first, Jos picking the ball up out on the wing, cutting past the defender and squaring it to James who had timed the run to perfection to meet the ball with a first time pass into an open goal. In normal games that would have been the game won, but with less than 10 minutes left the Darlington boys believed the game was won and played as such. Norton got 3 quick fire goals, all coming from a lack of pressing in the middle of the park which left the defence needing to step out and being exposed to the through ball with all 3 goals coming this way".

TJFA Boys U13 First Division: 

Boro Rangers Whites FC 3-2 Darlington FC Development

Team Coach Lee Hutton said; "In decent conditions for football we had an away trip to the league leaders Boro Rangers Whites a team that have won the league title a few times in the last few years. Unfortunately, we travelled there without a goalkeeper and three players short. We therefore had to use the depth of the squad and play an outfield player in goal. Not long into the game the whites went 1-0 up with a shot that went top bins. As the half went on we went down to 10 men for a period of time due to one of our players struggling with his asthma. The boys kept battling but found ourselves 3-1 down at half time. In the second half we told the boys to go out, enjoy it and give all they could. That was certainly the case. Despite Boro Rangers having several chances we scored a second and continued to push for an equaliser".

TJFA Boys U16 Third Division: 

Spaire Lads FC 1-2 Darlington FC Foundation 

Goalscorers: Jake Patterson & Dominic Stacey 

POTM: Jake Patterson & Jake Baldwin

Team Coach Grant Cuthbertson said; "Today saw the boys play away to local rivals Spraire Lads. Spaire started stronger, dominating possession, whilst we seemed to be rushing our passes. On the 15th minute, a mix up at the back led to Spaire taking the lead. From this, we settled into the game, and grabbed an equaliser. A good passage of play by Ethan Cuthbertson on the edge of the box, who's pass found Jake Patterson in space and finish a shot into the top right corner. Second half was very similar to the first half but we continued to persevere and battle especially in the centre of midfield. Darlington had a corner on the 53rd minute that was whipped in perfectly by Oliver Walters for Dominic Stacey to finish and put us 2-1 up. The boys continued to show resilience and dig in and a couple of magnificent saves by Liam mason ensured that the score remained 1-2 at the final whistle".