It's difficult to know where to start with this one. Three days before Bonfire Night there were certainly some fireworks here, as Consett gave themselves a mountain of Himalayan proportions to climb - and then very nearly climbed it! Above all else this was a cracking game of football, which was certainly something that didn't look on the cards at about twenty past three.

Consett fielded as near as they could the same side as that which drew against third placed Billingham Town seven days earlier. The injured Lee Suddes and Chris Hodgson were replaced by Colin McLeod, himself returning from injury, and Neil Lowdon.

Jeff Sugden at full stretch goes close

Any late arrivals at this game would have missed a quite sensational start. Durham, bolstered by the recent acquisition of Paul Rowntree from Billingham Town, came at their visitors like a ton of bricks and Consett capitulated in dramatic fashion. The opening goal came on four minutes, Steven Halliday shot from outside the area and although Stuart Kelly got down well to parry, Michael Dunwell was on hand to slam home the rebound.

Five minutes later City doubled their lead with a simple set piece goal. Paul Rowntree rose among a crowd of players to head home a Keith Douglas free kick. Three more minutes and Durham added a third. Michael Dawson swung in a long ball which sailed undisturbed into the Consett area and Douglas ran in behind the defence to nod home from close range. On 17 minutes it was 4-0, and there was very little the Consett rearguard could do about it as a sweeping City move culminated in Rowntree back-heeling the ball into the path of Steven Halliday, who rifled home from 10 yards.

17 disastrous minutes ...
1-0	2-0	3-0	4-0

At this point minds were being applied to the question of what Consett's record defeat was. The contest was so one-sided a boxing referee would have been tempted to stop it. However, from this point on there was only team in it and that was Consett. The fightback started almost immediately as Andrew Thompson had three long range efforts in as many minutes, two of which went narrowly wide with the other being well saved by Paul Newton in the City goal.

Just after the half hour mark Colin McLeod connected with an Ian Davison cross and Newton saved his close range header. Moments later Jeff Sugden headed just wide from a Gareth McKenna cross. As Consett's continued to press forward Durham missed a golden opportunity to make it five when Steve Walklate blazed over an open goal with Stuart Kelly lying injured. The home side were made to pay for this miss a minute later when Darren Grimes cut in from the left to send a scorching right foot shot from the edge of the area into the top corner to give the Steelmen some hope going ito the half time break.

Thompson gets to grips with an opponent

Consett got the best possible start to the second half when they reduced the deficit still further on 49 minutes. A clever Tony Halliday flick set Grimes clear on the left. He squared the ball to McLeod who turned and shot in the area, the ball taking a wicked deflection off a defender before sailing over Newton's head and into the net.

This set the tone for a half which was pretty much one traffic towards Newton's goal. Within two minutes of setting up Consett's second, Grimes almost had a significant hand in a third as his diagonal cross was met by the head of a Durham defender who came within inches of putting through his own goal. On 65 minutes Sugden beat the offside trap following a corner and, at full stretch, toe poked the ball over the City keeper only for it to drop onto the roof of the net.

Still Consett pressed forward, another long range Thompson effort on 70 minutes whistled just wide, then five minutes later the outstanding Darren Grimes saw a left foot volley from 25 yards crash into the side netting. At the other end Kelly saved well at the feet of Atkinson when the Durham man should probably have done better. Kelly then set Consett straight back on the attack again, a move when ended with Neil Lowdon forcing a good save from Newton.

As Consett searched in vain for a third goal, Paul Rowntree had an excellent chance to kill the game eight minutes from time. Substitute Canavan pulled the ball back from the right wing to Rowntree six yards out, however his seemingly straight forward tap in was brilliantly clawed away by Kelly from point blank range.

Having thrown everything but the kitchen sink at Durham for most of the second half one might have expected Consett to tire as the game wore on, however if anything their play improved and their passing and movement in the final third was at times a joy to watch. They must have realised the game was up though when, five minutes from time, Halliday pulled the ball back for Grimes whose low shot was saved yet again by Newton.

That Consett made a game of this at all after giving their hosts a four goal start was a quite phenomenal achievement. Certainly the never-say-die spirit and tireless running that was so much in evidence in this game should give them plenty to build on in the coming weeks.

Suggs in the thick of things again