New Hartley retain Durham Youth Cup

A crowd of 300 watched at Nissan Sports ground under the lights as the region’s top two youth teams thrashed it out.

There was nothing between the two sides until Hartley broke the deadlock with 15 minutes remaining when substitute Harvey Hills smashed home from close range with almost his first kick of the game to make it 1-0.

Moments later Hartley’s AJ Barbour was brought down in the box and Dan Turner saw his penalty saved, but the referee ordered it to be retaken, only for the same outcome.

Spennymoor were then reduced to 10 men on 80 minutes, before deep into stoppage time they went down to nine following another red card. With 97 minutes on the clock, Hartley were awarded a free kick and Dillon Short fired home from 20 yards to make it 2-0 with the last kick.