Report

Consett kicked off their season by progressing into the next round of the FA Cup with a 3-2 win over Ryhope CW, with summer signing Carl Lawson helping himself to a debut double.

He put the Steelmen ahead in the 63rd minute and 10 minutes later added a second goal, which turned out to be the winner.

Lawson and the club’s other summer signing Lewis Green both started, while Matty Cornish made a second debut, two years after his first.

But it was a familiar face, Darren Holden, who gave Consett the lead after six minutes, firing in off the base of the post, pictured, after good work by Cornish and Lawson.

Ryhope responded with a free-kick which saw David Vincent head wide from an Ollie Hotchkiss free-kick, but chances were otherise few and far between as both teams passed the ball well, but created little.

The game began to open up as the half passed its midway point, and Cornish was unlucky to see his shot fly just wide of the left-hand post after a one-two with Jake Orrell on 27 minutes.

Big centre-half Ross Wilkinson tried his luck from all of 30 yards after a clearance fell to him, but couldn’t hit the target.

Just when Consett seemed to be taking control, Ryhope levelled in the 35^th minute, with ex-Steelman Jack Walker headed in powerfully from Hotchikiss’s right-wing corner.

Lawson fired wide from Holden’s cross as Consett tried to regain their lead, and Cornish shot straight at the keeper from 20 yards, while at the other end Wilkinson denied Bradley Hird with a great last-ditch challenge.

Half-time: Consett 1 Ryhope CW 1

Consett were grateful to Kyle Hayes for a vital stop in the 61st minute, as he made a good save from Hird, and Bailey Judson could only head the loose ball weakly into the keeper’s hands.

Two minutes later the home side retook the lead. Cornish’s well-struck effort was saved by Jordan Harkess, but the ball fell to Carl Lawson six yards out, and he fired home the rebound despite the presence of two defenders on the line.

Sub Ali Alshabeeb, who’d just come on, missed a golden chance to wrap up the game on 72 minutes, somehow putting Orrell’s cross wide from a couple of yards. But a couple of minutes later Carl Lawson made it 3-1 when his curled cross from the right somehow ended up in the net without anyone in the middle touching it.

Ryhope scored an injury-time consolation when Robbie Bird stuck one in the top corner from out wide on the left, but there was barely time to restart, and it was Consett who have a home tie against Northern Premier League side Ossett United on Saturday 12 September.