A NORTH-EAST football club’s youth team has secured a £2,000 cash injection after finishing eighth in a nationwide competition.

Darlington’s under 18s side collected 738 votes in the ‘upgrade your team’ competition fronted by former Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate.

The team was entered by Darlington fan Paul Cooper.

He said: “I was one of the first people to enter this competition as I saw it pop up in my Facebook newsfeed almost immediately after it was posted.

As the U18s is a new team, I knew the £2,000 prize fund would go a long way if we were to gain enough votes.

“The first thing I did was post the details of the competition on the Darlo Uncovered fans internet forum.

“I immediately contacted Darlington FC who were very supportive and began flooding Facebook and Twitter feeds asking everyone to vote.”