Hexham FC enjoy home comforts

Posted by Hexham FC on Mar 30, 10 03:29 PM in Sport

Hexham 2 Wallsend Town 1

Hexham FC have been unbeatable at home at the Wentworth this season, having developed a habit of grinding out positive results from tough games. This week it was the turn of Wallsend to visit Hexham's impregnable fortress, and considering their impressive record of having only been beaten twice on the road, they were likely to threaten the unbeaten home streak.

As might be expected of a game between two teams placed 5th and 6th in the league respectively, the game started competitively on a pitch that bore the signs of a long seasons worth of use.

The Emirates stadium this was not. It was Hexham who seized the initiative midway through the first-half when a hopeful long-ball caused havoc amongst the Wallsend backline. Hexham's Jamie McNamee found himself through on goal and ended up colliding with Wallsend's heavy-set goalie, the ball rebounding neatly to Darren Dobson who calmly slotted home from 18-yards out. At the other end for Hexham, Michael Robson was putting in a lights-out performance at full back, stifling any opposition attack.

The game was repeatedly broken up by some vindictive offside calls though, and Steven Coates can consider himself the unluckiest victim of the flag. Coates had a goal chalked off after having impressively finished from a ball that was fairly clearly played across the box backwards. After the break the game seemed to open up, with far more space being found by both sides.

At one stage, handbags flew between teammates Gavin Cox and Scott Robson over a perceived missed challenge, but Hexham were at least showing admirable commitment. Wallsend were full of hustle, but seemed to lack a spark of quality in the final third.

Hexham doubled their lead shortly after half-time when a simple throw-in was dealt with embarrassingly by the Wallsend defence, leaving Tom Phillips completely clear in front of goal and with an easy finish. Instead of pressing on for more though, Hexham were guilty of sitting off and allowing the Wallsend attack to come in waves. They were made to pay for this when a cross from out-wide found the head of a Wallsend striker Paul Mclutcheon, who produced an impressive looping effort that sailed over goalie Dave Anderson into the corner of the net.

It was the away side who now had the initiative, as Hexham seemed content to try and defend their way to victory. The Hexham back line were unquestionably solid, but it seemed inevitable that Wallsend would get at least one more chance to level before the end of the game. That moment came ten minutes from time, when a beautiful through-ball split the home defence and sent their winger through on the home goal.

Anderson challenged but failed to fully clear, and the ball dropped to the Wallsend number nine who found himself with a carbon-copy chance of Hexham's first goal. The result this time though was different, as the big striker slid the ball inches wide of the post from 15-yards out.

The game's final few minutes saw frantic pressure from a battling Wallsend side, but Hexham managed to see out the game and retain their impressive unbeaten home record.

Thanks to Michael Watson for today's match report

We'd like to hear from you.
Send your stories, pics and videos to northumberland@ncjmedia.co.uk