Two-Blues round off memorable season with another big victory

BISHOP Auckland manager Chris Hardy revealed planning for the Northern Premier League is already under way after his side were crowned Northern League champions earlier this week.

A 7-1 defeat of Newcastle Benfield saw the Two-Blues officially secure the title and promotion into step four of the non-league pyramid and celebrations began following Thursday’s 4-0 win at Redcar Athletic.

Hardy’s men rounded off a memorable season with a 3-0 win at at Tow Law Town on Saturday thanks to goals from Aaron Brown, JJ Bartliff and Craig Gott.

Hardy said: “(Planning) has already started, truth be told.

“I think one of the biggest problems you’ve got when you’re trying to box things off and get on to the next task is you can lose sight of what’s going on in the moment. So there is stuff going on in the background but I am sure over the next few days I’ll be sitting down with the chairman, looking at budgets and we have targets for next season.”

Heaton Stannington will host Birtley Town in the play-off semi-finals after Dean Nicholson’s men claimed a hard-earned 1-0 win at Crook Town with a goal from Sean Reid.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Jay Bates brought down the curtain on his West Allotment Celtic reign with a 1-1 home draw against Newcastle Benfield as Mechack Kanda’s firsthalf goal was cancelled out by Lennox Magalhaes.

Dan Kirkup got the decisive goal as Carlisle City edged a five-goal thriller against Northallerton Town and Adam Burnicle, Joe Hailes, Brad Chisholm and Michael Annang-Colquhoun all netted as Seaham Red Star won 6-1 at Sunderland RCA.

On Friday, Dean Holmes’ opener and a Ben Harmison brace gave North Shields a 3-0 home win over Whickham.