Despite their best efforts they finished bottom for their fourth successive Northern League match held at Sheffield's Woodburn Road Stadium.

Only ten points separated them from third placed fellow North Easterners Birtley, with host club Spenborough the winners, and another fellow North East club Tynedale finished second.

It means they cannot avoid the drop into Division Two for next season.

Over the past 20 years under the leadership of Tony Ward they have drifted between Premier and Division One status, but relegation is inevitable.

It was in the Field events where missing athletes lost valuable points.

Credit must go to Alistair Douglass in the U17 Men's age group where he took on some tough opposition to record two outright victories and a second.

He won both the 800m (2m10.2s) and 1500m Steeplechase (4m55.9s) and went on to finish second in the 400m (56.5s), only losing out for a hat-trick of victories by two seconds.

Morpeth took maximum points in the Steeplechase with Philip Shuttleworth winning the 'B' race in 5m46.3s, and that was after earlier finishing second in the 3000m in 10m24.6s.

The best results in the U15 Boys' events for Morpeth came in the Field, with Callum Duncan and Tom McGee both performing well.

Duncan claimed victories in the Shot (8.69m) and Long Jump (4.99m), and McGee won the Javelin (27.83m) and 'B' event of the Shot (7.87m) in addition to his second in the 'A' event of the Discus (20.22m).

In the U15 Boys' Track events Josh Dunn and Jonny Nisbet took honours with victories over 800m (2m18.8s) and 1500m (4m54.7s).

Maximum points were achieved in the 1500m when Tom Brookes took the 'B' race in 5m16.0s.

At U13 Boys' level both Liam Brooks and Ryan Dodds look bright hopes for the future.

Brooks finished third in the 200m (32.3s) , and the hardworking Doods finished third in the 100m (14.8s), second in the 800m (2m53.7s), third in the 1500m (5m29.7s) and rounded a splendid afternoon's work with a third in the Long Jump (3.86m).

Morpeth's best points in the U17 Women's events came in the 3000m which Jessica Caldwell won in 13m43.9s and Catriona MacDonald won the 'B' event in 14m11.4s.

In the U15 Girls' events Morpeth had a double victory in the 75m Hurdles courtesy of Steph Courty (13.9s) and Katie Plant (15.0s)
Courty also finished second in the 800m in 2m39.6s. Plant finished third in the 100m in 13.9s.

There were some hard work by Morpeth athletes in the U13 Girls' events.

Steph Purvis gained their only victory when winning the Shot with a best of 4.55m. Purvis also finished third in the 1200m in 4m36.3s, with Sarah Wilkes producing an excellent 4m42.7s to finish second in the 'B' race.

In the 75m and 150m A races Catherine Phillips finished third in both in respective times of 11.3s and 23.9s. 'B' race runners Eve Shashova (12.2s) and Ailidh McCallister-Williams (24.8s) placed third respectively.