Although Boxing Day failed to offer much in the way of festive cheer for Newcastle Blue Star, there was a late Christmas cracker just two days later and with a trip to North Shields having the air of six-pointer attached to it, it was Marc Nash’s men who would earn all three.
A maximum haul thanks to maximum effort and with a Dan Lanning goal being registered in either half, his opener would put the visitors ahead early on and his second of the day would re-establish their lead after the interval.
Poachers instinct between the posts to put Blue Star in front, instinctive anticipation to mop up Sean Reid’s missed effort from 12 yards and although the scoresheet will solely have Lanning’s entries etched into it, this was nothing less than a win by the whole team.
Spurred on by defeat at Newcastle Benfield, spurred on by not wanting to slip outside of the top five to a fellow promotion hopeful, the performance against North Shields was a marked improvement to what was on offer just over 48 hours before.
If this was a gauge of what this team is capable of, then the sky is the limit between now and the end of the season and the limit between themselves and the top now stands at just two points with a new name at the summit at the time of writing.
Thanks to a combination of results that fell in Blue Star’s favour, it is now Shildon who sit at the top of the Northern League Division One table but any of the top five could be in a different position come the end of Saturday afternoon’s action – even more so with Redcar playing on Friday.
Action that sees a quickfire reverse of Boxing Day’s opposition and with Newcastle Benfield making the trip to the KD Stadium, they will be keen to build on their impressive run of form that has thrust them into the playoff mix.
Not only did they get the better of Blue Star by a single goal on December 26th but they also then followed it up with a 2-1 win over Redcar Athletic on the 28th. They may be ninth in the table but this outfit should be far from underestimated.
Something which sets up this upcoming clash rather nicely. A warm welcome goes out to the visiting Newcastle Benfield 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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