AFTER the previous week's shock 3-0 home reverse to Bishop Auckland, Consett returned to winning ways in the league with a fairly comfortable 3-1 win over Ryton. With David Duke and David Gordon the only notable absentees, the home side were as close to full strength as they have been in a long time, with captain Carl Piecha back in his usual defensive position, while the visitors included former Steelmen Richard Logan and Craig Robson in their line-up.

The game started in wet and windy conditions, and with barely two minutes on the clock, it was Ryton who took a surprise early lead. David Scorer gave away a free-kick, and with minimal fuss James Allsopp stepped up and curled a 25-yarder past home keeper Danny Staples.

Consett simply hadn't started, but were handed a lifeline only two minutes later when a harmless-looking punt from defence ended up sending Steven Johnson clear through on goal, with the Ryton defence AWOL. The Consett man ran a full 35 yards with no one near him before calmly slotting into the bottom right-hand corner of the net.

The visitors didn't learn from their error, and the speedy Johnson was sent clean through twice more within the first 15 minutes. However, a heavy touch from the striker denied him even getting a shot away on the first occasion, while visiting keeper Gareth Powell made a superb stop next time round, with Jonjo Dickman shooting the rebound wide from the edge of the area.

After a frenetic start the game settled down, but there was a major blow for the home team when Dickman seemed to suffer another recurrence of his recent injury and was replaced by Chris Scott. The substitute wasted no time in getting into the action, and his superb cross from the right was headed narrowly wide by Mattie Moffat on 35 minutes, while a minute later Logan almost returned to haunt his former team by sending a superb dipping effort from the edge of the area against the crossbar with Staples well beaten.

Just as it looked like the sides would go into the break all square, the game burst into life again on 40 minutes when the unusually quiet Gary Ormston picked the ball up after good work from Steven Huggins and David Pounder and almost nonchalantly thumped it into the top left corner from a full 30 yards.

Ryton then suffered what would prove to be a killer blow right on the stroke of half-time. Consett put together a superb one-touch move involving a number of players, and it resulted in Ormston being brought down on the edge of the area. Midfield man Huggins stepped up and curled a superb free-kick into the top left-hand corner of the net, and the home side went in at the break 3-1 up.

Half time: Consett 3-1 Ryton

In stark contrast to the first half, the second began with the rain stopped and clear blue skies, but sadly it was also the opposite of the first in terms of action. The visitors enjoyed the lion's share of possession, but Staples in the home goal was rarely threatened.

However, Ryton thought they had won a penalty on the hour mark, but the referee deemed the infringement took place just outside the area. They did almost score from the incident though, as Andrew Barclay headed the resulting free-kick wide from only six yards.

Consett's best chance to extend their lead came on 62 minutes when Johnson sent his strike partner Moffat clear down the left-hand side. The No 9 easily cut inside the last defender, but his low effort from just inside the area was well turned round the post by Powell.

The game petered out after that, and the Steelmen held on for a comfortable win, which will do wonders for their confidence after the horrors of the previous Saturday.

Full time: Consett 3-1 Ryton

ANDY BALL