Report

Consett suffered a disappointing defeat as they brought their home fixtures to a close, losing to relegation-threatened Ossett United at Belle View Stadium.

The Yorkshire side only dropped into the bottom four last week, but picked up three valuable points with a battling performance which gives them every chance of avoiding the drop.

Consett manager Jason Miller was without the unavailable Ben Ramsey, with Ewan McGowan taking his place in the only change from the side which won at Brighouse.

Carlos Rodrigues missed a chance for the visitors straight from the kick off, firing wide with the goal at his mercy, but they took the lead on three minutes when Harry Moss raced out on his area to challenge Carlos Rodrigues for a through ball and got it all wrong, leaving Jack Crook to fire into the empty net from 20 yards.

Alfie Proctor fired just wide as Ossett sought to double their advantage, and it took Consett, who have been safe in mid-table for weeks, half an hour to muster a first shot, as Donny Holdsworth’s curling effort tested Aleks Petrovic.

As half-time approached the keeper then did well to claw away Matty Todd’s teasing cross, which caught in the wind, with Holdsworth heading the rebound over.

Half-time: Consett 0 Ossett United 1

It remained 1-0 to the visitors at half-time, and Consett stepped things up after the break, with Will Constantin firing just wide from close range after Todd unselfishly played him in when he could have gone for goal himself.

But the next goal went to Ossett in the 73rd minute, as a poor throw from Moss held up in the blustery wind and was intercepted by Jack Degruchy. He slipped the ball to Josiah Dyer, whose pass left Ben Tweed with a simple finish.

Ossett, led superbly by skipper Josh Askew, saved the best to last when Jack Crook took the ball down outside the box, turned and smashed a shot into the far corner to wrap up the win with 12 minutes to go.

Consett tried hard to give their fans a consolation goal to add to the 73 they’ve scored this season, which made them the league’s third-top scorers before this game, but Petrovic denied Holdsworth with a flying save to preserve his clean sheet.

The only blot on Ossett’s performance was a straight red card in added time for centre-back Josh Burns, for a needless over-the-ball tackle on Holdsworth, which means he will miss their final game next week.

This 10th home defeat of the season, combined with other results, saw Consett drop two places to 11th, and lifted Ossett out of the bottom four, to 18th.

Newton Aycliffe’s relegation alongside Brighouse Town was confirmed, with the other places to be filled by two of Blyth Town, Bishop Auckland, Ossett and Silsden, with the last-named, Consett’s final-day opponents, needing a point to guarantee safety.

MATCH REPORT: GARY WELFORD
PICTURES: KEITH MARLEY & KENNY TAYLOR