Consett extended their unbeaten run in the Arngrove Northern League 1st Division to 13 games and in the process climbed to the top of the table with a 4-2 win at struggling West Allotment Celtic on this day in 2007.

Manager Kenny Lindoe made three changes to the side that relinquished its grip on the Durham Challenge Cup in a home defeat by local rivals Tow Law three days earlier. Craig Turns returned in goal, Carl Piecha to the defence and Gary Ormston to midfield, with James Platten, Rob Story and John Ewart making way for them. The line-ups for both sides included a Patterson, a Johnson and a Brown!

The game was effectively over within 20 minutes, by which time The Steelmen were 3-0 up. On 12 minutes they worked a short corner to David Pounder who chipped a delicate cross into Carl Piecha, who headed home,

Two minutes later Mattie Moffat was fouled on the edge of the area and Steven Brown fired the free-kick round the wall and in off the post to double Consett’s lead.

Before the home side could do anything about their predicament they found themselves three down as a reverse ball from Moffat set Steven Johnson in the clear with the Celtic defence claiming in vain for offside. The young striker slotted the ball coolly past home keeper Morton for his 19th goal of the season.

The home side, to their credit, refused to throw in the towel and somehow managed to make a contest of the remaining 70 minutes. Consett keeper Craig Turns was forced to make a point-blank save from Tom Vickers when he responded quickest to a ball played into the area by Andy Johnson.

Twelve minutes before the break Steven Brown played a one-two with Gary Ormston and fired the return pass into the side netting, but there was to be no further addition to the scoring in the first half.

A harsh penalty six minutes after the interval gave the home side a lifeline. Andy Hay cut inside and appeared to slip in the process, however the referee deemed he had been tripped by Mark Gaffney and Keith Douglas sent Turns the wrong way from the spot.

Piecha almost struck back three minutes later, shooting over from Steven Johnson’s cross. However the young defender scored his second of the game on the hour mark to restore Consett’s three-goal lead. After a lengthy stoppage following Ormston’s collision with the perimeter fence, David Pounder’s corner picked out Piecha, whose looping header found the net despite the attempts of a defender on the line to head away.

Consett always looked likely to score more and ought to have done on 74 minutes when Moffat outmuscled a defender to leave three blue shirts against two defenders. Moffat rolled the ball to his strike partner Johnson, but his shot was straight at Morton.

Three minutes later a brilliant run down the wing from Ormston ended with a cross to Moffat, but it was just too low for the number 9 to meet with his head and the ball rolled to safety.

The home wouldn’t give up, however, and after Ben Dawson had volleyed a poor clearance back towards goal but just off target, Celtic made it 4-2 with three minutes remaining. Douglas delivered a perfect free-kick from wide right and the unmarked Tom Vickers headed home.

Steven Johnson and Ormston both went close for Consett in the closing stages, while at the other end they were fortunate to survive an incredible goalmouth scramble deep into stoppage time. In the end though the Steelmen were good value for their win, and with Durham inactive, they went to the top of the league for the first time this season.

West Allotment Celtic: 1 Morton, 2 Douglas, 3 D Patterson (sub Mitchison 82), 4 Hughes, 5 A Brown, 6 Locker, 7 A Johnson, 8 Dawson, 9 Hay (sub Houlsby 69), 10 Vickers, 11 York (sub Richardson 60).

Consett: 1 Craig Turns, 2 Michael Coulthard, 3 Mark Gaffney, 4 Mark Patterson (sub John Clark 72), 5 Carl Piecha (sub Rob Story 77), 6 Craig Robson, 7 Gary Ormston, 8 Steven Brown (sub Davey Robson 86), 9 Mattie Moffat, 10 Steven Johnson, 11 David Pounder.