Colliery are final bound after big win

A DOMINANT performance from Easington Colliery saw them through to Wednesday evening’s Division Two play-off final, where they will meet Newcastle Blue Star.

Three goals within a quarter of an hour of each other in the first half put the game far beyond the reach of Bedlington Terriers. Callum Stanton created the first and third of those as he caused problems down the right, assisting Mark Davison and Matty Weirs on either side of a Brad Forster header.

While Bedlington did knock on the door, with 10 minutes to go the ball ended up in the back of their net as Terriers failed to deal with a James Fairley corner to make it 4-0.

Easington manager Olly Hotchkiss heaped the praise onto his players, as he looked forward to the big occasion in Scotswood – where his side picked up a 5-0 win earlier in the season.

“The players were tremendous, they executed the game plan perfectly and I’m really pleased with the boys, and they deserve all the praise we get and hopefully we can move on and enjoy Wednesday night and hopefully have another positive outcome,” he said.

Blue Star stand in Easington’s way of promotion into the top tier after they claimed a narrow home win against Horden CW on Friday night.

“I was there, and it was a great occasion with over 1,000 fans there,” added Hotchkiss.

“I’m really pleased it’s up there, because I think finals should be played at special venues and, as much as we love our ground, it’s quite special what they’ve done with the ground up there.”

Blue Star made an impressive start as an own goal put them in front within the first five minutes – but Horden hit back through Chris Wallace early in the second half.

Wallace went from hero to villain when he was shown a red card with just over quarter of an hour remaining and Blue Star took full advantage when Shaun Ryder fired home the winning goal with seven minutes remaining.

That result sent the vast majority of the 1,061 in attendance into euphoria and Blue Star manager Marc Nash said: “It’s been a brilliant night for us with over 1,000 here for a second division game and that speaks volumes.

“We’ve had a taste tonight, hopefully that brings people back and hopefully we get a similar reaction from the local community on Wednesday night.”