YOUNG footballers in Ponteland are one step away from making the final of the prestigious English Schools' FA Cup final.

A fantastic 5-2 victory over Bury-based Parrenthorn High School put Ponteland Middle School's Year 7 team into the final four of the U12 Playstation nine-a-side cup.

Captained by Bobby Clark, the son of former Newcastle United and Sunderland midfielder Lee, the Ponteland crew were excellent from start to finish as they put the pressure on their Greater Manchester guests.

The visitors were delayed in arriving to Northumberland, and faced an early onslaught from their hosts during an explosive opening 10 minutes.

It was evident during the warm-up that Clark possessed a great amount of talent for his age as he whipped in efforts on goal, and he needed less than 60 seconds to demonstrate his great knowledge of the game by giving Ponteland a first minute lead.

Beni Ayok's left footed cross caught everybody out as it hit the foot of the post, the ball then bouncing off the unsuspecting away goalkeeper. Clark showed great awareness to be the first to react and poke home the deadlock breaker.

It was reward for a ferocious start from Pont, but Parrenthorn soon settled into their stride and responded well, only to send a header wide of the target from a promising corner.

However, they were level after just three minutes when they were awarded a spot kick, the visiting player sending the effort home for 1-1.

Yet Ponteland dominated the best part of the remaining 25 minutes of the opening half as they were spurred on by Clark, who forced the Parrenthorn goalkeeper to parry a well-struck effort from distance away.

Ponteland were back ahead on seven minutes when a wicked delivery from Dom Malpass caused all sorts of problems for the Parrenthorn defence and the ball was bundled over the line by defender Joe Beckwith.

Great work by Ethan Nash down the right wing ended with him putting in a great cross, which was attacked on the stretch at the back post by Malpass who was unfortunate not to be able to divert the effort on goal.

The teams went into the half time break at 2-2, though, when Parrenthorn benefited from a lucky deflection, and the loose ball was gathered by a grateful striker to poke the ball past Ponteland goalkeeper Nathan Fisher.

Ponteland were determined not to let their good work be undone and started the second half on fire, scoring two goals in four minutes to put daylight between the teams.

Their third goal followed a fine, flowing move which saw Malpass flick the ball into the path of Clark to slam home with a fantastic finish.

Malpass then got the goal his performance deserved as he turned well outside the area and fired an unstoppable effort past the away custodian.

The final nail in Parrenthorn's coffin came midway through the second half as Omar Tumia took on his man and then played a piercing through ball for the pacy Finley Wilkinson, and he prodded the ball past the goalkeeper via the far post for an unassailable 5-2 advantage.

The goal forced Parrenthorn to revert to a more attacking formation as they desperately looked for a way back in the game, but they were denied by some fantastic saves from goalkeeper Fisher.

He was also well protected by his defenders, particularly the centre half pairing of man of the match Beckwith and Jayden Haire who rarely gave their opponents a sniff with some committed tackling and key headers.

Ponteland's semi-final opponents won't be known until the draw on February 27.

SQUAD: Nathan Fisher, Beni Ayok, Omar Tumia, Jayden Haire, Bobby Clark, Finley Wilkinson, Joe Beckwith, Dom Malpass, Sam Bullock, Lewis Farrier, Ethan Nash, Thomas Bell.