Consett treated their supporters to a Friday night football feast with their best performance of the season so far tonight, beating league leaders Hebburn Town 3-0 at a misty, wet Belle View.
The Steelmen showed real character to bounce back from back-to-back defeats in the FA Cup and FA Trophy, and put on a fine display against the Hornets, who reached the play-offs last season.
Although it’s early days, with only five league games played, Tony Fawcett’s side are the only unbeaten side in the Northern Premier League Division One East, and the win lifted them to second in the league.
A goal from Zak Atkinson in the 11th minute gave them the lead, meeting Ben Ramsey’s ball into the box and guiding it past visiting keeper Shaun Newbrook, pictured below.
They came close to doubling their lead in the 34th minute when Dan Capewell met a free-kick, but his volley just cleared the crossbar.
Six minutes before the break Consett had James Anderson to thank for maintaining their lead as he made a superb save from Robbie Spence’s top corner-bound free-kick.
It was the keeper’s third important save of the first half, after an early stop from an Amar Purewal header and a low effort which looked to be heading for the bottom corner.
Consett reached the interval 1-0 to the good, and came out of the traps quickly in the second half, with
On 63 minutes they got their reward when a quick-taken free-kick saw Atkinson surge down the left and pull the ball back from the byline for Jack Gibbons to finish from close range.
Ben Ramsey almost made it three on 66 minutes with a shot into the side netting, but on 76 minutes Arjun Purewal did make it 3-0 with a bullet header from a right-wing cross by Calvin Smith.
Purewal had another chance a couple of minutes later after being set up by Ramsey, and Wil Shaw was thwarted when Newbrook raced off his line to clear as the Steelmen threatened to add to their score.
But when the final whistle went it was the Consett supporters in the 418 crowd who headed home happy after an excellent all-round team performance brought a fully deserved 3-0 win.
- Full match report, stats, picture gallery and goal highlights to follow.
