29 March 2008

Honours even at Belle Vue Quagmire this afternoon as Consett and West Allotment Celtic played out a 3-3 draw in quite atrocious conditions. Credit has to go both teams for serving up a highly entertaining encounter in a near monsoon on a rapidly deteriorating pitch. Consett started very brightly going two up in 12 minutes, David Pounder opening the scoring in the ninth minute and Craig Robson capitalising on a goalkeeping error to make it 2-0 three minutes later (pictured above). A Mark Gaffney own goal and 20-yard Lee York strike squared the game by the 26th minute. The rain thankfully stopped for the second half and Celtic completed a tremendous turnaround by going 3-2 up seven minutes after the break through Andrew Watson. A rare goal from skipper David Johnson made it 3-3 which is how the game finished. Match report and pictures HERE.

22 March 2008

Today's home game against Newcastle Benfield has been POSTPONED due to a snow covered pitch at Belle Vue Park. Attractive wintry scene taken at 10.30 this morning pictured left.

No news yet on a re-arrangement obviously, but given that we are currently playing every Saturday and Wednesday between now and 26 April we can only assume it will have to be squeezed in on a Monday night, or our season gets extended to Wednesday 30 April.

19 March 2008

League leaders Durham City all but wrapped up the Northern League title at Belle Vue this evening with a comprehensive 4-2 win that put them 19 points clear of 2nd placed Whitley Bay. All the damage was done in the opening quarter of the game in which City scored three times. Two goals from Steven Richardson and one from John Toft (pictured above) all dispatched into the same corner of the same net at the Civic Centre end of the ground ended the contest inside 23 minutes. Richardson completed his hat trick 20 minutes from time, and although Andrew Thompson's deflected 25 yarder made it 1-4 a minute later a comeback was never seriously on the cards. A couple of fine saves from debutant goalkeeper Paul Gilmore, signed from Darlington RA, kept the scoreline respectable. To be fair to Consett they kept going to the end and were rewarded with a stoppage time goal from Jonjo Dickman. Match report and pictures now online.

15 March 2008

Normal service very much resumed as Consett registered an excellent 7-0 win away at Washington. The win was all the more remarkable given that it was achieved with the injured Mattie Moffat watching from the sidelines. Steven Johnson converted a 4th minute penalty to set the ball rolling and David Pounder followed up his own shot (pictured) to net the second five minutes later. Johnson scored his second on 20 minutes before David Colvin scored his first Consett goal to make it four after 26 minutes. Johnson completed his hat trick seven minutes before half time scoring from the rebound after his second penalty of the game had been saved. With the game dead and buried it was a much less eventful second half, but substitute John Clark scored in the 73rd and 90th minutes to complete the rout. Match report and pictures now online.

12 March 2008

The points were shared tonight as Consett played out a 1-1 draw with Dunston Federation at a bitterly cold Belle Vue Park. More heartening than the result was the performance however, as the Steelmen showed a vast improvement on the last couple of games, dominating throughout, and being rather hard done by in only picking up a point. There was little Consett could do about Fed's 37th minute opener as Neil Pattinson robbed Andrew Thompson on the edge of the area before unleashing a superb strike into the top corner. Consett created numerous chances, including a Carl Piecha header that was cleared off the line and away via the crossbar, but had to wait until the 80th minute for their equaliser. David Pounder's inswinging corner hit a Fed defender on the line and dropped at the feet of Mark Patterson for the easiest of tap-ins. Match report and pictures HERE.

8 March 2008

Another dismal result for Consett this afternoon as their season continues to unravel at an alarming rate. This time it was second-bottom Northallerton who left Belle Vue with three points, inflicting a 1-2 defeat on their hosts. Two near identical goals from Daniel Earl in the space of three second half minutes did the damage, fired past Steven Brown who was once again pressed into unfamiliar goalkeeping duty. A Mattie Moffat strike nine minutes from time gave brief hope of a fightback but the Yorkshiremen held on for the win against a Consett side who seem intent on disproving the widely held belief that you can't become a bad side overnight. Match report and pictures now online.