Alan Britton Memorial Cup final 14 May 2022

The final of the Alan Britton Memorial Trophy at Tow Law turned into a superb advert for grassroots football.
Little was seen of Stanhope in the first half and goals from Will Hovington and Tom Hammond saw Barney lead 2-0 at half time. It got worse for Stanhope early in the second half when Lewis Robinson added a third for Barnard Castle. Jack Barker pulled back what looked likely to be a mere consolation with a free kick on 70 minutes. Two minutes later Stanhope were right back in the game thanks to another Barker free kick. And then with the last kick of the game Stanhope bagged a third through Aydan Bowers to take the game to penalties. The first seven spot kicks were all converted. Stanhope then missed and Barney scored to win the shoot out 5-3.
Trophies were presented by Alan's son Darren while John Morton's man of the match trophy went to Jack Barker.
On balance Barnard Castle just about deserved it but credit to Stanhope for a fine second half fight back.
In beautiful May sunshine a large crowd had watched an enthralling game with no real losers. Alan Britton would have loved it.