The final game in a long, hard season. Hebburn faced a resurgent Brandon United who having finished as clear wooden spoonists in the previous season were now in the top half of the league. Indeed Hebburn suffered a 2-0 defeat against Brandon only two weeks ago, so a good contest was anticipated. Unfortunately Hebburn started with a somewhat depleted side; Colin Nesbit, Kyle Pendergood, Anthony Myers and Michael Armstrong were missing and others including Frater, Patton and Marsden were carrying injuries.

Brandon started much the brighter of the two sides and deservedly took the lead in the seventh minute when a long ball out of defence fell between two home defenders and the league's leading scorer Paul Dixon seized the opportunity to lob the stranded Gary Frater from 20 yards for a clinical finish. After quarter of an hour, however, Hebburn deservedly equalised when Gray was cynically brought down when racing clear on the corner of the box; from the resultant free kick Dean Patton curled a shot round the wall onto the crossbar and Joe Donaghy reacted fast to head home from six yards to level the score.

Hebburn continued to press and took the lead late in the half when Brandon keeper Bobby Joyce strangely handled outside his area when he coulod have waited for the ball. Daniel Gray curled a superb shot over the wall to give Joyce absolutely no chance to give Hebburn a half time advantage.

Hebburn anticipated a lot of pressure from the young Brandon team in the second half, particularly as they had been further streched when Robert Marsden was replaced by manager Tony Robinson midway through the first half; Robinson was the only fit outfield substitute on the bench. The half started with both sides attacking and Gary Frater was called upon in the 50th minute to make a crucial save from Fothergill but Hebburn looked to have extended their lead in the 70th minute when Patton lost his marker on the right hand side of the box and struck a fine drive which clearly beat Joyce, only to see Liam Bramley clear off the line.

Shortly afterwards an incident involving Trosh and the Brandon midfielder Verity resulted in Trosh being red carded for kicking out in retaliation. From this point on Brandon exerted non stop pressure but thel defence marshalled by Donaghy, Myers and Pain held firm as the Hebburn ten men gave their all to protect the lead. They managed this until the 93rd minute when dangerman Dixon doubled his tally with a fine volley from ten yards after a great run by the excellent Bramley on the right. For some totally unknown reason the referee managed to find nine additional minutes but Hebburn somehow endured further pressure to secure a 2-2 draw. The Hebburn team can take great credit from this as the defence including young Jonathan Dunne, the midfield with Micky Irving and Paul Trosh, and the forwards with Carroll, Patton and Gray battled for the entire game. Gary Frater gave the defence confidence with a solid performance, and was only beaten by two fine goals. Finally credit to manager tony Robinson for running himself virtually into the ground.