U8’s – After a good win in our last fixture we were hopeful of building on that against a well organised Wynyard team. A tight first half saw us go behind to a couple of goals, but managing to get back into the game with a goal from Jason before the break! We pressed hard in the second half with some good play from Thomas and Lewis upfront only to be denied on numerous occasions by the Wynyard keeper and letting a couple of goals in towards the end after some great saves from Sam sealed the Match for them! The second game was tight affair with Rob, Kiera, Lleyton and Joe putting in good performances with Parker strong in goal only to get edged out in the end. Well done to the whole squad for a battling display. MOTM Thomas Francis
U9’s TJFA – continued their excellent season with a 2-0 home win against Bishop Auckland St. Mary’s. Goals from Jacob and Charlie either side of half time were enough for the win in a dominant display. Jake was as industrious as ever down the flank, supported well in attack by Lucas and Zack. Defensively Harry, Chloe and Aaron were excellent with Thomas in goal keeping a clean sheet.
U9’s RUSSELL FOSTER – First game v Wrekenton Nou Camp – a very good side with a 1-0 win, but NAJFC had their best performance of the season as we dominated play from start to finish. Dom was superb in goal, Ollie and Sam excelled in defence, breaking up play. Evan worked tirelessly in midfield, Taylor and Isaac created chances from the wings, with Bo and Ted alternating up front to keep the pressure on. – The Wrekenton manager said it was the hardest game they had for a long time. Our second game saw a 3-1 defeat to Waldridge Park Glanton. Ollie started in goal, Ted in defence, Sam and Evan midfield, Taylor and Bo wide, with Dom up front. Aycliffe quickly got on top in the game, taking the lead with a goal from Dom early on, finishing well. Waldridge equalised shortly after which Ollie couldn’t keep out. We slipped to a 3-1 deficit after half time. The last ten minutes was tense, everyone gave it their best effort! These two games mean that NAJFC finished the Winter League Division 8 in 4th place, with 6 wins and 7 defeats from 13 games.
U10’s faced tough opposition away to Billingham with only 8 players available due to hols. Billingham attacked and came close on a couple of occassions. NA Juniors fought hard, defending well until Billingham scored – 1-0 at half time. NA came out a different team in the second half and pressured Billingham into an own goal. The game was close with 5 mins to go and Billingham put on fresh legs and scored twice. 3-1. Well done lads, great effort!!
U11’s – On a bitterly cold morning they were against local rivals Youth Centre Falcons, The decision was made to start players who would usually be subs to freshen things up. Falcons were the 1st to score, but the lads continued to play, creating opportunities, looking to draw level. This paid off when Adam ran onto a well placed goal kick, beat the defender and slotted the ball home. The Falcons were then awarded a penalty minutes later to end the half 2-1 to the Falcons. We started the 2nd half with three changes, Kyle. Dylan S & Dylan H, made way for Ethan, Zak & Jake, and 5 mins into the half Nicholas came on for Jamie. The Falcons added two goals in quick succession, but the lads didn’t give up and always looked dangerous on the attack. They were rewarded when Adam took a great shot and it flew into the right hand side of the goal. The Falcons were awarded a 2nd penalty, to put them 5-2 ahead. Adam’s got his hatrick with another well placed shot.  to end the game 5-3 to the Falcons. Man of the Match was Adam, who scored 3 superb individual goals, the first time he’s been asked to play in the CF position. We need to get back to basics, and play the passing game we’ve proved we can play, Let’s put this game behind us and come back fighting next time.
U13’s were unbeaten going into the match but had 2 players missing. They still had a strong 14.and the first half was close with no dominant performance. We fell behind after failing to clear and the All Stars striker finished well – HT 0-1. We got off to the worst possible start finding ourselves 0-3 down 5 minutes into the second half so changed a few things around. We pushed forward and got caught again – 0-4 and that’s how it finished. Let’s put this one behind us lads and regroup for next week, if we recapture the form of the past few weeks, we can beat anyone! MOTM was Logan Armstrong who never stopped running all game.
U14’s 12th game of the season on Sunday, was away to top of the league Hardwick Youth who had only been beat once this season and by our lads! In exceptionally difficult conditions we put in a great performance by taking the game to Hardwick, who struggled to get near us in the first half. We created chances and after 17 minutes finally took the lead. Newton Aycliffe continued to play some fantastic one touch football but despite creating 6 / 7 good chances and 3 one on ones we just couldn’t find that second goal.  We continued to more than match Hardwick despite some poor refereeing decisions going against us.  With 20 minutes to go Hardwick found the net to level the score.  I am not one for having a go at refs but this particular individual was shocking and ruined a good game.  Decisions continued to go against us and in the last 10 minutes heads went down through frustration and Hardwick went on to scorea further 2 goals. No points for us, but we are clearly heading in the right direction as I received a text from their manager after the game saying: “your lads played some fantastic football and in the first half we couldn’t get anywhere near you”
U16’s  were at home to Northallerton Juniors and with the away fixture being a high scoring game (7 – 5) to them we knew this could possible turn out the same! How surprised we were when at half time we were 3 – 0 up! 2 from Ben Thompson back from injury and 1 from Ethan Tarn. The lads were told at half time to expect them to come at us strong and having the wind in their favour it was going to be tough. The conditions were terrible with heavy freezing cold rain and sleet! They went for it and got level at 3 – 3 with 15 mins to go, but we pushed for a winner and when we won a corner and Declan Maughan scored direct from it we thought we could hold out for the win! Credit to them they pushed and scored 2 quick goals to secure the win. 4 – 5. Aycliffe MOM was chosen by the Match Official who awarded it to Kieran Maughan. 3 more games to go, chin up lads!! Cheers Damian.
U23’s  faced a tough task at home against Gusiborough FC, an excellent passing side and one of the favourites to win the league. Aycliffe closed Guisborough down very quickly, Michael Howe replaced Allison, following injury and Howe made an immediate impact holding the ball up well and laying it off to Winwood who hit a terrific strike from 20 yards which dipped under the bar to give Aycliffe a 1-0 lead, which remained till half time.
Aycliffe displayed excellent commitment battling for everything and despite a good spell of Gusiborough pressure Aycliffe continued to deny the visitors. They finally put the game beyond doubt with 2 minutes to go when Smith played the ball forward to Howe who kept two defenders at bay and placed a low shot into the bottom corner to give Aycliffe a deserved 2-0 lead. The score remained 2-0 to Aycliffe who thoroughly deserved their hard fought win against an excellent Gusiborough side. The referee awarded the M.O.M to Adam Smith who had a terrific game creating a number of chances in the first half and playing a very mature and disciplined role in the second half when Gusiborough were pressing for an equaliser.