North Shields Athletic Res 2 Rothbury 11
NFA Minor Cup Round Two
I have a feeling that Thomas Hammond may have sank a couple of celebratory pints by the time he told me that he’d graced the pitch in a ‘Yaya Toure-esque’ fashion during the Reds’ emphatic Minor Cup win.
When the hard-working defender reckoned he’d been ‘an absolute unit’ and had ‘rifled his goal in from 18 yards into the top bin,’ you had to worry if Hammy had been into the sheep dip.
He doesn’t get that many so you’ve got to cut the likable six-footer some slack, and the sight of him and his mate Kyle Smith grinning in Susan Aynsley’s excellent match photos would put a smile on anyone’s faces; an image that captures the pure joy and comradeship of the game.
But all joking aside, it’s not often that you get to run up double figures and a ruthless Rothbury didn’t take their foot off the gas as they went rampant against the Northeast Combination outfit.
Fellow Alliance First Division sides Hexham and Haltwhistle were also big scorers with 12 and 11 respectively while Cramlington United hit 9 as the higher ranking teams in the competition certainly signalled their intentions.
Rothbury were given an early wake-up call, however, as David Office shot the hosts ahead in the just the third minute.
Greg Woodburn pulled the Reds level five minutes later and Hammond hammered in to turn things around three minutes later. The goals then rained in in quick succession on the artificial surface at the John Spence High School. Hugh Dennis netted in the 22nd minute, Chris Coe on 28 and Woodburn grabbed his second on 36 to make it 5-1 at the interval.
Brad Elwood pulled one back for Shields in the 56th minute but Coe made it six 4 minutes later. Gareth McCann bagged a brace with goals in the 64th and 78th minutes while Dom Griffin starred as he netted a late hat-trick with goals in the 77th, 82nd and 90th minutes.
Poor old Mick Tatum came out of retirement to help out between the sticks for Athletic and will be sore this morning after throwing himself around to try and keep efforts out, while the woodwork was also pinged on a number of occasions.
“It was a good day at the office for the lads against a young but spirited North Shields side,” said delighted manager Danny Olson.
“The penny really has dropped over the past couple of weeks and we are starting to look like the side we want to be. Lots of possession, lots of pace and so many chances created. We face a much tougher test next week but I think all connected to the club are already looking forward to it.”
Olson's assistant Rob Marshall agreed and said: "We played some good football and built on last week's win over Whitley Bay Sporting. Chris Coe and Tony Brown continued their fine form and we will go into next week’s game away to Forest Hall full of confidence and look to make it 3 wins in a row."
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