Although the rain foiled Newcastle Blue Star’s and Carlisle City’s first attempt to meet each other, there should be no such issue with the conditions later today and in just a few hours, league action will return to Scotswood.
The same venue where league action took place at the weekend and as Blue Star raced into a two-goal lead within the first five minutes, Dan Lanning’s brace from close range would have you suggest that the job was already done.
A suggestion that maybe creeped into the minds of the Blue Star team themselves and even with their two-goal lead at the expense of Whickham still intact at the interval, there was no reason to suggest that a twist in the tale was just around the corner.
One that came no more than 30 seconds after the restart and with Whickham halving the deficit no sooner than the second half got underway, they would also soon restore parity to stun Marc Nash and his players.
A stalemate that if played a month or so ago, would have likely ended with a share of the points. But there was always a sense that Saturday’s encounter had a goal left in it and with Lanning already on a brace, his bid for a treble had yet to be completed.
Foiled by the frame of the goal after stunning shot range in the first half, not to be foiled in the dying seconds of the second and with the forward on hand to head home his and Blue Star’s third, a win was snatched from the jaws of a draw.
No doubt that Blue Star made life far more difficult than it needed to be but no doubt that they showed the character to take charge of proceedings and record a second successive Saturday win over Whickham.
A result that was the perfect tonic after defeat at Redcar Athletic earlier in the week and a result that keeps Blue Star within the playoff mix with games in hand still to be used – one of those to be used this evening.
Starting the evening lying in sixth, Blue Star know that a win would move them up to fourth in the table before Saturday’s visit of Blyth Town. However, there is plenty of work to be done before the weekend’s fireworks and the work is to get the better of Carlisle City beforehand.
Something which sets up this upcoming clash rather nicely. A warm welcome goes out to the visiting Carlisle City team and support and for those who lend their voice to the home team, make sure to bring the noise throughout.
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