SUNDAY saw a veritable footballing feast at Longhoughton with all five Longhoughton NABC sides being drawn at home.

The climax of an exciting day saw the U13s welcome Blyth's Newsham Juniors .

The large home crowd, buoyed by survivors of the previous fixtures, gathered expectantly in unseasonable sunshine as the game got underway.

However, Newsham were determined to spoil the carnival atmosphere and after just 20 seconds, the visiting captain ran through the heart of the Longhoughton defence to open the score with a low drive.

Not for the first time this season, Longhoughton were shaken and did well to survive another attack which immediately followed.

The sizeable visiting support sensed an upset but the home team soon regained their composure and started to dominate. In particular, some clever wide play by the outstanding Chris Sweeney, Adam Robinson and Andrew Kiddell saw the home team begin to get in behind the Newsham defence and unleash a constant barrage of dangerous crosses.

But, despite being camped in the Newsham half the home team failed to convert a string of chances. Nevertheless, a breakthrough was inevitable and on 22 minutes Matthew Reid finally levelled the score with a clever lob over the keeper.

The well disciplined Newsham defence continued to resist but on 30 minutes Kiddell completed a mazy run with an expertly taken left footed strike into the top corner of the visitor's goal.

Soon after, the hard working Ryan Welleans and Tom Farr combined to feed striker Kane Rogers whose clinical finish left the Newsham keeper
with no chance.

Of course, nothing in football can be taken for granted and a rare Newsham counter ended with a free-kick on the edge of the Longhoughton box. The home team were immediately punished as the visiting striker found the roof of the net with a beautifully struck dead-ball.

Despite all their pressure, Longhoughton could only take a slender 3-2 lead into half-time.

However, the home team emerged for the second half with clear attacking intent and immediately unleashed a ferocious assault on the Newsham goal.

Three minutes after the restart, Rogers bagged his second, skilfully evading the challenging defender to calmly lob the Newsham keeper.

Newsham's early resistance was now crumbling as Longhoughton's energy and pace continually breached the visitor's midfield and defence. On the right flank, man of the match Robinson was dominant, striding out past defenders to deliver cross after cross which caused chaos in the Newsham box.

With the Longhoughton defence largely redundant, the back four of Joe Mallen, Jake Storey, Nick Clarkson and Sam Gray took turns to push forward and on 39 minutes Gray deservedly netted his first goal of the season with a strong finish to put the home team 5-2 up.

Longhoughton's dominance now saw a flurry of goals as the busy Connor Weightman netted two goals in two minutes and Kiddell and Reid both grabbed their second. And Sweeney struck two good goals to complete the rout.

A hugely impressive display of strength, stamina and fast moving wide play from the Longhoughton U13s.

Credit to the Newsham players and supporters for their sporting behaviour throughout.