Bishop Auckland Football Club have been crowned Northern League Division One champions for the first time since 1984/85.
The club secured the title with two games to spare after an emphatic 7-1 win over Newcastle Benfield.
The Two Blues also secured automatic promotion and will play in the Northern Premier League East Division next season.
The historic win came on Monday evening in Newcastle after the side matched the result of their nearest rivals, Shildon AFC, who magnanimously offered their congratulations in a tweet to the new champions.
Indeed, it was Shildon who stalled what looked like a formality when they won at Heritage Park on 1 April to suddenly open up a race for top spot.
But the Railwaymen faltered in their next game, handing the baton back to the Two Blues, who made no more mistakes to claim their first league title in 39 years.
By Monday evening, with Shildon playing their final game of the campaign and Bishops three points ahead with two games in hand, a point would have been good enough to claim the title, but the Two Blues secured the trophy in style, scoring seven goals through Louis Johnson (9, 27), Liam Henderson (25, 61), Aaron Brown (63), James Risbourgh (72) and Dean Thexton (83).
With two games remaining, the side, which plays its penultimate game at Redcar as Bishop Press goes to print, and its final game at Tow Law, is now targeting 100 points in a season that will be long remembered in the club’s illustrious history.
Bishop Auckland's local community newspaper.
