The Reserves continued their excellent late run with a hard earned 3-0 win over visitors Hexhamshire on a hot day at Benson Park. Three goals in the last sixteen minutes were due reward for the Reserves superior fitness and determination.

Norwegians Christian Ossawy and John Hurry made their first appearances since January with Alex Martin unavailable and Dave Alexander arriving late. The Reserves started with understandable confidence and opened up Hexhamshire on numerous occasions, especially in the opening fifteen minutes. Lively new signing Karl Williams once again looked a player of the highest class and looked dangerous every time he got the ball, despite playing throughout with a fractured rib, and Hurry showed some touches of the highest class. Unfortunately the finishing once again did not match the approach work, with Hexhamshire's emergency keeper rarely tested. Impressive fresher Nico Heslop smashed a shot against the underside of the crossbar before blasting over an open goal from close range.

Hexhamshire gradually came back into the game and fresher keeper Rob Scott had to be alert to cut out danger. Once again Trigger Robinson was a defensive colossus at the heart of the Reserves defence which has now kept three consecutive clean sheets and conceded only one goal in five. Fresher fullback Rory Monaghan competed tenaciously against last year's Tynesie Amateur League Player of the Year Scotty Makepeace while Tim Burke-Murphy turned in another excellent performance at right back. Centre half Ossawy struggled for pace at first but battled through commendably.

At half time senior players Hopkins and Robinson demanded greater intensity. The Reserves responded positively by still continued to miss chance after chance, Williams the most consistent culprit and Sam King the most culpable. With 25 minutes to go Alexander replaced Hurry and immediately made an impact with some perceptive and early through balls, as the Reserves continued to dominate.

The inevitable goal came in the 74th minute when the outstanding Mark Rogers who turned in another prodigious performance at the heart of the Reserves midfield played in Williams who finished clinically. The goal inspired a rally from the visitors but a determined Reserves defence held firm. the Reserves continued to push forward against a tiring defence and it was no surprise when fresher Heslop scored his first goal for the Reserves in the 85th minute, a due reward for another highly encouraging performance. He robbed a defender via a block tackle before bursting into the box to blast the ball past the keeper. The win was clinched with a classic goal as substitute Paul Miller played in inspirational skipper Gareth Hopkins whose peach of a cross was superbly headed home by Williams.

Confidence is now sky high that fourth place can be achieved by winning the last game of the season at Lindisfarne. After spending September to April in the bottom two, this would be tremendous for the Reserves and a finish only exceeded once by the 1st team in their three years in this league.

Final word: RICHARD CLARKE, remember that name, because he will be refereeing in the Football League one day.

Author: Pad

Team: R.Scott, T.Burke-Murphy (P.Miller), R.Monaghan, M.Rogers (MoM), C.Ossawy, D.Robinson, S.King, G.Hopkins, K.Williams 2, J.Hurry (D.Alexander), N.Heslop 1