CAMPBELL HAT-TRICK DENIES PONT

By Bill Gardner
While their closest rivals including second-placed Gillford Park were on cup duty, Walker Central went six points clear at the head of the Premier Division. The Central beat visitors Ponteland United 3-2 to complete a league double, maintain their unbeaten home record and clock up their seventh league win on the trot. But it wasn’t easy!

The players wore black armbands and held a minute’s silence before the game as a mark of respect for former long serving Northern Alliance League Secretary John McLackland who sadly collapsed and died suddenly on 20th February.

It was Walker who took the lead from the penalty spot when United’s Ford pulled John Campbell’s shirt and Campbell himself took the successful spot kick. Walker were looking strong at this stage but Pont stuck to their task and equalised after 38 minutes. Sean Willis’s cross found Liam, McIvor at the near post and his short pass gave Scott Fenwick the chance to tap the ball home. And only two minutes later Ponteland were in front. Suddick chipped the ball over the home defence to the unmarked Andrew Davidson who smashed an unstoppable volley into the top corner.

Clearly Walker were unsettled at this juncture and trailed 2-1 at half time. But Pont’s lead was short lived and only four minutes into the second half Campbell equalised with his second goal, scored from a narrow angle. And the Central snatched a winner ten minutes from the end courtesy of Campbell again as he punished poor defending to complete his hat-trick.

The rest of the games involved teams desperate for points in the basement and Cramlington Town, now on the bottom rung, were beaten 2-1 by hosts Carlisle City who scored first and last through Steve Bell and Jamie Yallop. Cramlington’s second half scorer was Thomas North.

Peterlee Town are only a point better off than Cramlington and their miserable run continued as they were beaten 3-0 at home by Wark. Phil Thompson scored all three goals in the second half for Wark to hoist them into a mid-table slot.

Ashington Colliers and Newcastle University are both involved in a battle against relegation but neither had any joy. The Colliers lost 2-1 away to Heaton Stannington who had three points deducted last week. Heaton’s marksmen were Adam Donaghey and Gary Yates who bagged their late winner after David Brown had levelled for Ashington. Meanwhile, Newcastle University came off second best in their bottom of the table clash at Murton. The Students went down 1-0 to Paul Wintrip’s 62nd minute goal for their hosts.

In their semi-final tie away to Gillford Park in the Bosch Power Tools Challenge Cup, Blyth Town were beaten 4-2 in extra time. Steve Skinner bagged a first half brace for the Park but replies from Blyth’s Aaron Hicken and Mark Waugh took the game into extra time. Chris Grainger netted to put the Cumbrians in front before Skinner completed his hat-trick and Gillford will be meeting Heddon in this season’s final.

There were a few shocks in the Longhorn Hardware League Cup and in a delayed third round tie Stobswood Welfare beat Premier Division visitors Heddon 2-1. After trailing to Max Turner’s opener for Heddon, the Welfare hit back through Wayne Gair and Josh Hay to clinch an unexpected victory.

More surprises emerged in the League Cup’s quarter-finals and despite both being at home Seaton Delaval and Shankhouse lost out to their respective First and Second Division opponents. Cullercoats beat Delaval 3-2 after trailing to goals by Steve Howes and Stephen Anderson for their hosts. Alex Burnett reduced the deficit for the visitors before Femi Akinbolu levelled in the 90th minute. Then in stoppage time Craig Deighton scored the Cullercoats winner.

Hexham won 2-1 to dump Shankhouse out of the cup and quickly responded to Craig Johnson’s opener for their hosts. They forced Shankhouse’s defender Graeme Smith into conceding an own goal and with only three minutes top spare Tony Lancaster claimed Hexham’s vital winner.

Harraby Catholic Club however made no mistake in their quarter-final at home to First Division leaders Stocksfield. They won 4-1 with goals shared by Mike Swift, Roy Holliday, Lee Otway and James Earl after Sandy Tordoff had given Stocksfield an early lead.

DIVISION ONE – JOY FOR TROUBLED BERWICK
In the First Division lowly Berwick United were celebrating after securing their first away points of the season. The Borderers did the trick with a 1-0 victory at Chopwell to give themselves some breathing space in the basement. The points were only secured late in the game but that didn’t matter to Berwick whose vital winner was snatched in the 88th minute by Sean Phillips.

Still with no home points to their credit, Red Row Welfare stayed on the bottom rung after a 2-0 defeat by visitors Seaton Burn whose marksmen were Stuart Taylor and Mark Braddick. And Gosforth Bohemian Garnett are just above Red Row in the basement but eased the pressure by winning 1-0 at home to Newcastle East End. Paul Menton scored Gosforth’s winner only five minutes into the game.

In mid-table, Gateshead Rutherford have won their last four games on home turf and they made Wallington their latest victims. Wallington produced a rather poor performance and couldn’t argue about losing 2-1. Their single goal was a last minute disputed penalty put away by Ashley McAlpine after Dan Robinson and Graeme Troughton had netted for Rutherford after the break.

The top two sides in the First Division – Stocksfield and Whitley Bay ‘A’ – were both absent from league duty and Percy Main, unbeaten in their last six outings, leapfrogged over Chopwell Officials to claim third spot.

The Main won 4-1 to complete a league double against Northbank over in Carlisle and Sean Potts gave them an early opener from Pierre Coiffait’s cross in a move initiated by Graeme Cole. And almost immediately the Villagers’ lead was doubled by Tony Browell who latched onto Jason Ritchie’s long free kick to score from close range.

Jonathan McEnaney scored Percy Main’s third goal after only 20 minutes to rock the Cumbrians when Ritchie again supplied the ammunition and the visitors’ tally was completed by Ritchie who scored from the spot after Coiffiat was up-ended in the area. Simon Elston claimed Northbank’s consolation goal.

Killingworth YPC claimed their third win on the trot in beating visitors Hebburn Reyrolle 4-3 with goals by Daniel Smee (2), Kevin Grahamslaw and second half substitute Peter Mulholland. Killy also presented an own goal gift to Reyrolle who had Chris Morris and Dave Jeffers on target as they suffered their sixth successive defeat away from home.

DIVISION TWO – AMBLE UNITED RECLAIM POLE POSITION
South Shields United were lying idle in the Second Division and surrendered pole position to Amble United who beat Wallsend Town 4-2 to protect their hundred percent home record. United’s scorers were Greg Dance (2), Steve Gibbard and Bradley Wake. Steve Richardson and Paul McCutcheon replied for the Tynesiders who are yet to earn a first league point on their travels.

Fourth-placed Wallsend Boys’ Club may also be in a false position, having completed more games than any other side in the Second Division. After drawing four home games on the trot the Boys’ Club got back on track by clinching a 3-0 verdict at the expense of strugglers Amble Town. Goals shared by Rob Nolan, Andy McBride and Frazer Henderson completed a league double for the hosts.

In third place, North Shields Athletic have played more games than the two teams above them but they haven’t given up on promotion. And the Athletic clinched a rare away win by beating Benfield Chemfica 3-0 with goals supplied by Dave Armstrong (2) and Ronnie Kay. The result ended Chemfica’s three-match winning streak.

Tynemouth United, the only team below Amble in the basement, stayed glued to the bottom rung and without a single league win in this campaign. They were beaten again – 2-0 by hosts Wideopen & District – and were sunk by goals for Wideopen’s Gary Lamb and Jamie Reeves. Lamb remained the Division’s top scorer with 19 league goals to his credit so far.

After losing only once in their eight previous outings Forest Hall were surprisingly beaten 2-0 at home by Whitley Bay Town who secured their first away points in the process. Strikes by Garry Milburn and Mick Welford gave the Bay some hope of dragging themselves out of the basement.

Willington Quay Saints suffered their first defeat at home this season in going down 3-2 against Newcastle BT. The BT lads had been the victims of travel sickness prior to this encounter but beat their hosts for the second time this term with goals shared by Dave Thompson, Anthony Bruce and Colin Galbraith. The Saints had been fired in front twice by Andy Duffield and then Glen Johnson but were stunned by Galbraith’s 85th minute match-winner.