CONSETT returned to the top of the table on goal difference over Whitley Bay after having to settle for a point against fourth-placed West Allotment Celtic. It was their fifth draw in the last seven games, but probably a fair result in a proverbial game of two halves.

Kenny Lindoe made three changes to the side which started the previous game at Penrith, two of them enforced. With skipper David Johnson ruled out with an ankle ligament problem he reverted from 4-4-2 to the more usual 3-5-2 formation, and Andrew Cutherbertson dropped to the bench to make way for the returning Jonjo Dickman, who was given the captain's armband.

The Steelmen also lined up with a new-look strike force, with Richard Logan and Paul Robinson making their debuts after signing from Dunston Fed and Sunderland Nissan respectively.

West Allotment included two former Consett old boys in their line-up, Rob Story at centre-half and David Colvin on the left wing. And it was Colvin who stood out as the visitors started the game brightly, causing problems from the off, and his former team survived an early shout for a penalty for handball from one of his crosses.

The early exchanges were end-to-end, and it was Consett who almost opened the scoring on 12 minutes. Adam Emson forced a corner with some good work down the left, and Dickman's flag-kick was flicked on by Carl Piecha to Michael Coulthard, who volleyed narrowly wide from 12 yards.

On 20 minutes West Allotment had a second penalty appeal turned down after Mark Minto went down under Piecha's challenge, but the referee was having none of it, and waved play on. The ball broke to Colvin, who drove it hard and low across the goalmouth, but none of his team-mates was able to react.

Logan looked lively up front, and went close with a right-footed effort from 20 yards which was deflected for a corner. He was involved again from David Pounder's kick, coming short and beating his man on the byline, but Celtic keeper Steven Mundy gathered his cross at the second attempt.

Chris Scott tried his luck from 30 yards as Consett stepped up the pressure, but no one was following in when Mundy could only beat out his shot.

But Consett didn't have to wait long for a goal, and when it came in the 25th minute it began with a quick throw-out from goalkeeper Paul Gilmore to Scott, who moved the ball forward to Dickman.
He played it forward to Robinson, and the former Newcastle striker looked to have lost possession, but his determination won it back, and the ball broke kindly for Emson, who carried it forward and finished into the corner from 12 yards out for his 12th goal of the season.

The goal filled Consett with confidence, and for the next 15 minutes they really hit their stride, playing some lovely passing football,. Scott scuffed a shot wide from 25 yards, and an Emson effort just skidded past the base of the post after he was put in by Gary Ormston.

West Allotment still threatened on the counter-attack, however, and Consett had a let-off when Glen Taylor sent a header inches wide from a free-kick awarded for a Piecha foul on Mark Minto.

In first-half injury time Ormston came close to doubling Consett's lead, sliding in at the back post to meet an Emson cross, but Mundy saved well.

Half time: Consett 1-0 West Allotment

The second half began in the same vein as the first, with the game ebbing and flowing, and Robinson, who once started a Tyne-Wear derby ahead of the £23m Shearer-Ferguson strikeforce, came close to marking his debut with a goal. More good work by Logan on the right set him up for a diving header, which looped just over the bar.

Eleven minutes into the half West had a decent chance to level, when Gilmore fumbled former team-mate Colvin's cross, and the ball fell to the visitors' other ex-Steelman Story, who couldn't keep his shot down.

Gilmore than had to be alert to keep out Celtic skipper Dan Patterson's quickly-taken free kick as the visitors enjoyed a good spell.

A solo run and shot from Logan relieved the pressure for a while, and then his toe-poked close-range effort was turned behind for a corner by Mundy. The goalkeeper also had to be alert when Robinson tried a snapshot from 35 yards when a loose ball fell kindly for him.

With the visitors beginning to look like the dominant side, however, Consett brought on Craig Robson for Emson in a bid to add a little more steel to the midfield.

But with the back line beginning to look a little jittery, it was no surprise when West Allotment equalised on 77 minutes. Consett failed to deal with a free kick, and when Gilmore fumbled a left-wing cross, the impressive Minto was on hand to make it 1-1.

Consett had a half-hearted penalty appeal turned down two minutes later when Robinson tumbled to the ground under a challenge, but it was the visitors who looked more likely to snatch the three points.

Gilmore had to be at his best to turn a stinging Minto drive around for a corner, and Taylor should have done better when he dragged an injury-time effort wide.

In the end Consett, who lost defenders Piecha and Coulthard to injury in the last 10 minutes, were perhaps grateful to hang on for a point against a more-than-useful West Allotment side.

Full time: Consett 1-1 West Allotment

Gary Welford