A dominant first half display from Horden CW was enough to see a young Moors side knocked out of the Durham Challenge Cup at Welfare Park on Tuesday night.

A first half spree of goals from Philly Angus, Ben Riding, Ben Henderson and Jack Pounder saw The Marras go into the break with a more than comfortable cushion. Cam Salkeld got one back after the restart, but it wasn’t enough.

Horden opened the scoring through Angus, who found the bottom right corner of the net with a precise finish from the edge of the penalty area in the 11th minute.

It took just eight minutes for the hosts to find their second, this time via a set piece. An in-swinging corner found Riding unmarked at the back post, where he had the space to prod home from close range to double the advantage.

A wondergoal from Henderson added to the hosts’ lead on the 38 minutes, as he lashed a powerful effort into the back of the net from around 30-yards out, beating James Barron in the Spennymoor net.

The hosts found a fourth with just two minutes of the first 45 remaining. Barron managed to stop a strike from Henderson, only for the ball to fall into the path of Pounder, who made no mistake and tucked home the rebound from close range to round off an impressive first half Horden display.

Ian Clark’s side did pull a goal back early in the second period, through Salkeld, who drove into the area and produced a smart finish past Robert Dean in The Marras goal, and into the bottom right corner of the net.

Moors had some half chances as the second half progressed, but a duo of good saves from Dean, as well as a fortuitous deflection off the crossbar, kept Horden in command of the fixture, as they marched on to the semi-finals.

Full Time: Horden 4 Moors 1

Moors: Barron, Augey, Atkinson, Peveller, Beals (Griffiths 77), Salkeld, McKeown (Nelson 72), Docherty, Butler, Rose, Hill.
Subs not used: Robson.

Referee: James Westgate

Written by Noah Betts