Boldon CA's Houghton pops up to secure derby win over Harton and Westoe

Boldon started the brighter of the two teams, but it was the home team who took the lead.

Against the run of play, Harton’s Bullman picked the ball up inside the Boldon half and made his way to just outside the box and let fly with a fantastic strike into the bottom corner.

However, Boldon responded with a dominating period and brgan to create chance after chance

Great interplay between James Pickering and Danny Symington down the left, freed Boldon striker Dominic Mossa, who brought the ball down on his chest and smashed a left foot half volley from 30 yards into the Harton net

In the second half, with Boldon on top, Harton took the lead again when a mix up in the Boldon defence saw keeper James Lone bring down a Harton player for a penalty and striker Shaun Reay put it away superbly.

Boldon’s top goal scorer Adam Bell latched on to a great through ball from Jack Lawton and he superbly slotted the ball past the advancing Harton keeper to equalise.

Five minutes from time, great play down the left by Boldon’s Adam Bell saw him break free and cross an inch perfect ball which was met by Josh Houghton, who made no mistake and sealed the win.

Boldon manager Paul Mossa said after the game: “We were excellent yet again. I thought the Harton camp lost their focus before a ball was kicked.

“They hyped the game up as a must win and the winner would be South Tyneside top dogs.

“We preferred to concentrate on our progress in the league and securing another three points.

“I felt a bit for the Harton players who worked extremely hard, but we dominated with skill and flair for long periods of the game.

“To be fair the score could have been easily have been 6-2 without any complaints, considering the amount of gilt-edge chances we wasted.

“That aside, I was confident from the outset that we would win.”