Durham City M1s 4 - 0 Lindum M2s

Wow. It is a long way home to Lincoln after a 4:30 push-back anyway, but a drubbing from us probably makes it even longer. In short, we were fantastic. Every single one of us (bar Timmy on a couple of occasions in the second-half) fired on all cylinders throughout the whole game. With an ever-growing technical team (thanks to Coach Jack, temporary Assistant Coach and Chaplain Seth Price, and Technical Assistant Kiera), we are looking ever more like a professional outfit – and our goals reflected such professionalism.

We attacked straight from the first whistle. Nothing came of it, but we immediately looked dangerous. Lindum then had a long spell of possession. A surprisingly unsuccessful 1v1 with Matt Coe maintained parity. Aside from that, however, Lindum offered little in front of goal. Coupled with our now-experienced scramble defence, their dearth of danger proved fatal. Anth Hulse scored our first goal. A series of passes from the right of our ‘D’ worked the ball to the left-hand baseline. A hard-carry and a pull-back saw Anth poke it past the goalie. 1-0. Anth is a bit of a fiend for a reflection these days, so when Matt Kettley won the ball in midfield and fired it to Anth, marauding in the ‘D’ with only one defender and the goalie for company, our resident legal eagle’s subconscious overtook him. Why trap the ball, when a first-time deflection past both opposition players from an unusual angle would double our lead? Fair enough. It was an outrageous goal, but, somehow, far from our best. We were all over them, but we couldn’t get a third. Then, we won a short-corner at the close of the half, causing the team to surround the opposition ‘D.’ In the end, they were both pivotal and unnecessary. Our move was saved, but Lindum failed to escape the ‘D’ thanks to some superb reactive pressure. Another short-corner was awarded. This time, Iain opened his tab for the league with a drag-flick to the top-right corner that was, frankly, unstoppable. 3-0.

Lindum improved during the second-half, yet they still offered little. They had a couple of chances, but lacked the pivotal finishing that we were displaying with vigour. We continued to pepper the Lindum goal with shots. The Lindum keeper was having a good game. It would take something special to beat him (again). The Kettley brothers were on hand to deliver. Matt won the ball in midfield and charged up the field. The rest of the team sprinted to fill our slots. Everyone was in their position for Matt. Our captain slipped it to his brother on the back-post. 4-0.

What a show. It was by far the best we’ve played in years. No doubt that North Shields are frightened.

MoM: Anth Hulse (relentless)

DoD: Chris Hepworth (stick to hockey – netball using a tennis ball is not your forte)

#FillTheSlotsTouchTheRim #ShezTheExplorer #HearAnthRoar