Report

Consett got their pre-season preparations underway with an entertaining 4-2 win over Morpeth Town at Belle View Stadium.

It was the Highwaymen’s second friendly, after a 2-0 win at fellow Northern Premier League side Shildon at the weekend.

And although the visitors, who played two divisions above Consett, fielded a strong side, it was Terry Mitchell’s Steelmen who deserved the win after a well-fought game.

Consett took the lead on 22 minutes, when young Dan Marriott played a neat one-two witrh Carl Lawson before rounding the keeper to fire home, pictured top.

But it was 1-1 on 32 minutes when Andrew Johnson curled home a fine equaliser from the edge of the box into the bottom corner.

That’s the way it remained at half-time, and the second half saw Consett ring the changes, bringing on six substitutes, including four trialists.

The changes did nothing to disrupt their momentum, however, and on 52 minutes they regained the lead when two of the newcomers combined to make it 2-1.

Five minutes later it was 3-1 when Matty Slocombe’s pass found Darren Holden in the box, and he curled a right-footed effort into the far corner.

The NPL Premier Division side showed their class again with a fine second goal in the 72nd minute, when captain Liam Henderson scored with a falling volley from Carl Finnegan’s cross.

But three minutes later Consett’s two-goal lead was restored when trialist six who had made the second goal pounced on a bad pass by the Morpeth keeper, and fired into the empty net for 4-2.

Consett 1st half: 1 Kyle Hayes, 2 Jermaine Metz, 3 Trialist one, 4 Trialist two, 5 Arjun Purewal (captain), 6 Ross Wilkinson, 7 Lewis Green, 8 Matty Slocombe, 9 Stephen Callen, 10 Dan Marriott, 11 Carl Lawson.

Consett 2nd half: 1 Kyle Hayes, 2 Trialist three, 3 Darren Holden, 4 Trialist two (sub Ross Wilkinson 82), 5 Trialist four, 6 Ross Wilkinson (sub Arjun Purewal 65), 7 Trialist five, 8 Matty Slocombe (captain) (sub Lewis Green 65), 9 Stephen Callen (sub Jermaine Metz 65), 10 Dale Pearson, 11 Trialist six.

Morpeth Town: 1 Trialist, 2 Stephen Forster, 3 Chris Reid, 4 Liam Noble, 5 Ryan Hutchinson, 6 Michael Turner, 7 Joe Walton, 8 Sam Hodgson, 9 Liam Henderson (captain), Connor Oliver, 11 Andrew Johnson. Subs: Sean Taylor, Trialists x 3, Jack Foalie, Carl Finnegan.